Cooper Flagg established an NBA record. Typical of the Dallas Mavericks’ 2025-26 season, it came during a loss.
The 18-year-old Flagg, the top pick in the June draft, became the youngest player to score 40 or more points in an NBA game. Yet his 42-point outing still wasn’t enough to secure a victory, as the Mavericks lost in overtime to the Jazz on Monday, 140-133.
Dallas now hosts the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.
Flagg’s previous high was 35 points against the Los Angeles Clippers last month.
“It’s cool, but … it would have been great to get a win,” Flagg said. “That’s what I’m kind of more focused on. I want to look at it as wins and losses. Obviously we didn’t win, so it’s tough for me to be happy or any of that. But obviously it’s success and I want to keep trying to get better from here.”
Draft experts predicted superstardom for Flagg, who was touted as the top player in his draft class even before his one-and-done season at Duke. Flagg says he’s just scratching the surface of his talent, averaging 18.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
“I think I’m just settling in,” he said. “It’s a new game, it’s a different spacing, different people out there. I’m getting more and more comfortable with my teammates. I’m playing alongside them and figuring that out. I’m just being myself and letting the game come to me and I think it’s worked out for me.”
The Mavericks have won five of their last seven games, but are still saddled with a 10-17 record.
The Pistons carry a four-game winning streak into Dallas. Their last two victories came after a nearly week-long break.
They pounded Atlanta at home, 142-115, on Friday then nailed down a hard-fought 112-105 victory at Boston on Monday.
Cade Cunningham led the way with 32 points and 10 assists despite battling foul trouble.
“Just trusting my work — staying in the game, knowing I was gonna get another opportunity to get back out there. That’s part of the game,” Cunningham said. “There’s gonna be games where you’re in foul trouble, just learning how to play with it and not, obviously, foul again, but not give up points and just be a cone out there. So it was a balance between it, but my team made a lot of big plays covering for me, and I was able to make some plays, too.”
The Pistons also flaunted their impressive depth, as their reserves outscored the Celtics’ bench, 47-14.
“They play different than a lot of other teams,” guard Caris LeVert said of the Celtics. “They take tough shots; they make tough shots. We tried to get ‘em off that 3-point line. Obviously, (Jalen Brown) had a big night from two, but we figured that couldn’t beat us.”
Detroit faced Dallas in a neutral setting — Mexico City, to be exact — on Nov. 1 and the Pistons emerged with a 122-110 victory. Center Jalen Duren was the game’s star that night, powering for a career-high 33 points along with grabbing 10 rebounds.
