Cooper Flagg scored a season-high 43 points on Monday night as the Dallas Mavericks rallied past the Indiana Pacers 125-122 at American Airlines Center, joining Kevin Durant as the only teenagers in NBA history with a 40-point, 10-rebound, five-assist game. iimiTV’s breaking report on Flagg’s record night has the full story, from his 30 second-half points to the two pull-up jumpers that closed the game in the final minute.
FINAL: Dallas Mavericks 125, Indiana Pacers 122
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How to watch: Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves, Thursday, November 12, 2026, 8 p.m. ET at Target Center, Minneapolis
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Yesterday was about the stat line. Tuesday was about what the league made of it, and the verdicts came from an opposing coach, a former All-Star and the record book itself. The Dallas Mavericks’ own official highlights of Flagg’s night against Indiana:
Cousins Calls Flagg Captain America On Gil’s Arena
The loudest reaction landed Tuesday evening. Speaking on the Gil’s Arena show, former NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins called Flagg “Captain America” and the future face of the league: “He’s been incredible, man. It’s the fact that he’s 19 going on 20, he’s still not even close to being in his prime yet, and this is what we are seeing from him on a nightly basis. He can do what he wants, man. Cooper Flagg do what he wants; he is Mister America, Captain America, however you want to look at it. He does what he wants. But this is the future of the NBA, future face.”
Basketball Network’s report of the same appearance carried Cousins going further: “We got to put some real respect on this kid’s name. Like, this is different. We haven’t seen this before.” Cousins is not a neutral observer of this player; he has praised Flagg before. But the timing is the story: the comments came the day after a 43-point game that put Flagg in a two-man teen record book with Durant, and they were aimed at what comes next, not at one night.
Cooper Flagg 43 Points, Now Third All Time As A Teen
What settled overnight was Flagg’s place in the career teen totals, a line the original record did not carry. The NBA’s official video of the 43-point night puts his career total at 1,732 points, third all time for a teenager, passing Carmelo Anthony’s 1,725 and closing in on Kobe Bryant’s 1,759 for second. He is 27 points behind Bryant with the teen window open until his 20th birthday on December 21. The league’s official cut of the milestone night:
The single-game counts firmed up the same way. His fifth career 40-point game is as many as the next two teenagers on that list combined, LeBron James with three and Anthony Edwards with two, and his 14th career 30-point game moved him into second place for a player under 20, behind only James. It was also his fourth straight double-double. The 43 points vaulted him into a tie for 11th in the NBA scoring race, the highest spot held by any non-veteran, and his season averages are up in every category on his Rookie of the Year year, with assists jumping from 4.5 to 6.9 a game.
Carlisle Sees Doncic In Flagg’s Second Year
The opposing coach added a quieter comparison on Tuesday. Rick Carlisle, who coached Luka Doncic in Dallas and now leads Indiana, said the similarities between Flagg and Doncic go beyond the uniform: “It’s clear to me that Flagg has gotten stronger. Luka got stronger his second year as well. There are some real similarities between the two players even though they are different, but they’re both doing it with great size, they make plays with the ball, they can score from anywhere on the floor, and they have a real physical impact on the game offensively.” Carlisle coached Doncic’s jump to All-NBA level in his second season, which is the path he was describing.
The honours talk followed the same direction. Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes named Flagg among the players expected to make a first All-Star team this season, writing that at this pace he could join James, Bryant and Doncic as players to earn All-NBA honours in their age-20 seasons. That is a projection, not a selection, but it is the level the conversation around a 19-year-old has reached in the second week of November.
Minnesota Tests The Streak On Thursday
What it means next gets tested immediately. Dallas opens a three-game road trip on Thursday at Minnesota, where the Timberwolves have won four straight to reach 8-3 without Anthony Edwards, who is out after knee surgery, with LaMelo Ball coming off a season-high 34 points against Milwaukee. The trip then runs through Cleveland on November 14 and Boston on November 15. Flagg needs 28 points across those games and the weeks after them to pass Bryant for second on the teenage scoring list before the window closes on December 21, and every game between now and then is played under the label Cousins gave him on Tuesday: the future face, being asked to play like it in the present.
