Every now and again, a first-year player like Cooper Flagg will put up a scoring clinic that goes down in history. Here’s where Flagg ranks among the highest single-game scoring performances among rookies.
What’s The Most Points By a Rookie in NBA History?
Flagg put together one of the most impressive performances by a rookie on Thursday against the Charlotte Hornets. Through 38 minutes of playing time, he scored 49 points on a 20-for-29 shooting clip, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, and 6-for-6 on free throws.
While 49 points is an impressive feat for a rookie, it still falls shy of the record for most points in a single game by a rookie. In fact, it isn’t even in the top ten in terms of rookie scoring performances.
That record belongs to Wilt Chamberlain, who played his rookie season in 1959-60 with the Philadelphia Warriors.
As a first-year player, he dropped 58 points, not once, but twice. On Jan. 25 1960, he did it against the Detroit Pistons. Less than a month later, on Feb. 21, he dropped the same number of points against the New York Knicks.
In total, Chamberlain had five 50-point scoring games as a rookie, including his two 58-point games. His next-highest is the 55 he dropped against the Cincinnati Royals on Nov. 12, 1959. He also scored 53 against the Boston Celtics on Feb. 23, 1960, and 52 against the Minneapolis Lakers on Jan. 5.
Chamberlain is not the only rookie to have scored 50 or more in an NBA game. Rick Barry (57), Earl Monroe (56), Brandon Jennings (55), Elgin Baylor (55), Elvin Hayes (54), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (51), and Allen Iverson (50)Â have all managed the same feat. What sets Chamberlain apart is the frequency at which he did it.
While he fell short of 50, it does not diminish what Flagg did. Aside from his 49 points, he also finished the game with 10 rebounds. Through the first three quarters, he already had 40 points. That alone places him in rarified air. In fact, he is the first ever rookie to accomplish this in the NBA’s play-by-play era.
Cooper Flagg had 40 pts, 7 rebs and 2 asts through three quarters tonight against CHA. Flagg is the first teenager in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) to score 40 points through three quarters.
Flagg is also the first rookie in the play-by-play era to accomplish the feat. pic.twitter.com/YrH4azeVYh
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) January 30, 2026
Flagg’s 49 points also place him in the same company with some of the NBA’s most elite players. Others who scored the same number of points in a game as a rookie include Trae Young, Earl Monroe, Kelly Tripucka, Michael Jordan, and Chamberlain.
