Cooper Flagg passed LeBron James’s 37 points in 2003 for the most by a single player at age 18 or younger, while becoming just the fourth Mav to drop 40+ as a rookie
Scoring 40 points in the NBA is no small feat. Doing so before even turning 20 years old adds another layer to that accomplishment. With No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg making history as the youngest player to post 40 in a single game during Dallas’ 140-133 OT loss to Utah on Monday, we decided to give basketball fans a top five list of the players to achieve such an accomplishment. Only six players have done so before turning 20, with Carmelo Anthony just missing the cut for today’s exercise.
Cooper Flagg (18 years – 359 days): 42 points
The first pick in the 2025 NBA Draft had a learning curve out of the gates for the Mavericks, but that feels like a distant memory as we approach Christmas. Over his last seven games, Flagg is averaging 25.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1 block in 34.8 minutes per game. The scoring ranks 14th in the league over that stretch, with an exclamation point stamped Monday night by the rookie. Flagg exploded for 42 points on 13-for-27 shooting (1-4 on 3-pointers) and a solid 15-for-20 at the free throw line, and filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal in 42 minutes. He became the first 18-year-old in league history to score 40 points, just six days before his 19th birthday on Dec. 21.
LeBron James (19 years – 88 days): 41 points
A few months after his 19th birthday, James lit the NBA world ablaze in a 107-104 win for Cleveland over the New Jersey Nets on March 27, 2004. ‘The King’ went off for 41 points while going 15-for-29 from the field and sinking all ten of his free-throw attempts. He added six boards, 13 assists and three steals against just two turnovers in 44 minutes of action. It was LeBron’s first of three 40-point outings in the calendar year, with the other two occurrences coming in November and December of the 2004-05 campaign, respectively. His record as the NBA’s youngest player to score 40 points in a game lasted over two decades.
GG Jackson II (19 years – 119 days): 44 points
Our highest-scoring entrant on today’s list belongs to Memphis’s GG Jackson II. The 2023 second-round pick delivered a career-high 44 points in 44 minutes during the Grizzlies’ final regular-season contest in 2023-24. Jackson finished 17-for-36 from the field with four made 3-pointers while hitting 6-of-7 at the charity stripe, corralling a career-best 12 boards to go along with one assist, two steals and one block in the 126-111 loss to Denver. He’s the only name on this list that wasn’t the first or second overall pick in his respective draft class.
Kevin Durant (19 years – 200 days): 42 points
During the final game of his rookie season as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007-08, Durant willed his team to a 126-121 victory against the Golden State Warriors. Durant scored 42 points on a ridiculously efficient 18-for-25 shooting and 5-for-6 on free throws, adding 13 rebounds, six dimes, one steal and two blocks with a plus-14 plus-minus rating across 43 minutes.
Anthony Edwards (19 years – 225 days): 42 points
Rounding out the top five youngest players to record a 40-point game is none other than Anthony Edwards, who owned the fourth and fifth spots on this list before Flagg’s record-setting night. ‘Ant-Man’ recorded two 40-point outings during his debut campaign in 2020-21, with the first of them coming in a 123-119 win against the Phoenix Suns on March 18, 2021. Edwards poured in 42 points on 15-for-31 shooting with four made 3-pointers while going 8-for-13 at the free throw line in 38 minutes. He also tallied seven rebounds, three assists and two steals against two turnovers.
