Cooper Flagg has been a child prodigy for years now. The Maine native was so good at basketball that he won a state championship as a freshman, skipped a year of high school, starred at a prep school in Florida and had a great freshman year of college at Duke. 

He was the prize of the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, and the most impactful first-round draft pick in more than 20 years, since LeBron James' entrance into the league. The Dallas Mavericks were. the lucky winner of the 18-year-old, who doesn't turn 19 until Dec. 21.

He's had a bit of a slow start to his NBA career, but 20 games in, he's starting to find his way. And he's also making history — on consecutive night no less on his first trip to Los Angeles as a Dallas Mavericks rookie.

On Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, Flagg had 11 assists, the most ever in an NBA game by an 18-year-old. The Mavericks lost 129-119 to the Lakers, but everyone still said wow about his night. He also had 13 points and seven rebounds, and had just one turnover in 36 minutes of action.

And that was just the start of his epic weekend.

Twenty-four hours later, Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to score 35 points in a game. He was He was 13-of-22 shooting and made 9-of-11 free throws in the 114-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. 

James  the only other 18-year-old to score 35 points or more in an NBA game, doing it twice during his rookie year with the Cleveland Cavaliers in December 2023. According to ESPN Research, James' first 35-point game occurred when he was 18 years, 348 days old, five days older than Flagg on Saturday night. James turned 19 on Dec. 30 of his rookie year.

James and Flagg, and that's it. Some lofty company there for the 6-foot-9 rookie.

"He's only 18 years old, but he seems like he's been in this league before," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the game. "He did it all tonight. He had the ball. You can call it point guard or whatever, but he ran the offense for us. He drove the ball. The ball touched the paint. He got to the rim, got to the free throw line, stepped up and made free throws for us late.

"Just his composure on both ends [was impressive]. He competes at a very high level. You saw that tonight, but you saw that last night, too."

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Kidd has been imploring Flagg to be more aggressive attacking the basket. His 22 shots on Saturday were a season-high.

"Being aggressive right now is obviously right for me, and that's what Coach has stressed to me," said Flagg. "I've got to be aggressive, and we'll live with some of the mistakes, but you just have to be aggressive and trust all the work.

"My teammates are extremely confident in me, and I feel that. And when they're confident in me, it enables me to just be free up there."

Veteran guard Klay Thompson has been in the NBA for 15 years now, and he played with one of the best ever — Stephen Curry — in Golden State before coming to Dallas. He's seen it all, and understands how special Flagg is, especially for someone who's still just 18 years old, at least for a few more weeks.

"Cooper's upside is limitless," Thompson said. "He has every tool to be great. Sometimes I can't believe he should be a freshman in college.

"It's pretty cool to be a part of (the start to Flagg's career). We all can be witnesses to what he's going to do for a long time."