Cooper Flagg Scores 49 Points, Most Ever By An Nba Teenager, In Duke Reunion With Kon Knueppel

No NBA player younger than Cooper Flagg has scored more points than Flagg did on Thursday.

Facing the Charlotte Hornets and his former Duke roommate, Kon Knueppel, Flagg posted a career-high 49 points in a 123-121 loss for the Dallas Mavericks. No teenager has ever scored that many points in NBA history, and it's also a Mavericks rookie record.

The latter record was previously co-owned by Flagg and Mark Aguirre. In a fun twist of fate, the Mavericks were retiring Aguirre's No. 24 on Thursday night.

Knueppel also posted a career high with 34 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including a franchise-record eight made 3-pointers, plus 4 rebounds and 3 assists. In addition to finishing one point shy of 50, Flagg had 10 rebounds and 3 assists while shooting 20-of-29.

The game came down to both players. Flagg tied the game at 121 with a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left, but Knueppel got a steal at his expense on the next Dallas possession and ended up shooting a pair of free throws to take the lead. 

Flagg had a chance to tie the game and hit the half-century mark, but his buzzer-beater missed long after shooting through a double team.

Regardless of the result, Flagg continued to enter rare company at only 19 years old. In addition to having the most points by a teenager, he is now one of three players to post multiple 40-point games at 19 or younger, joining LeBron James and Anthony Edwards.

The win is a welcome one for the 21-28 Hornets, who are now 2.5 games back from the Chicago Bulls for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. Knueppel's star performance continued a strong rookie year for the No. 4 pick pick, who ranks second among NBA rookies in points per game with 18.9, behind only Flagg.