'Flynnsanity' transcends teams.
After a solid stretch in November while playing with Toronto, punctuated by a steady 14-point, four-rebound and two-assist game, former first-round pick Malachi Flynn received the team's 'game chain' but more importantly, etched his name into the annals of Raptors history with an all-time nickname: Flynnsanity.
That name rang aloud on social media once again after seemingly out of nowhere, the now-Detroit Pistons guard scored an absurd 50 points, nearly doubling his previous career-high of 27, in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
The Pistons have been a mess all year, figuring out how their guard tandem of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey would work. Maybe it was never about those two high-lottery picks.
However, without the Pistons' disarray, the opportunity for Flynn to show his stuff in a big way might never have come along. Prior to the game, Cunningham was ruled out with a knee injury.
In his absence, Flynn got his time to shine, taking the floor for a season-high 34 minutes, scoring his 50 points on 18-for-25 from the field, 9-for-12 from the line and 5-for-9 from deep. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists in the process.
His scoring prowess landed him on a pretty notable list as well. He put up the 18th 50-plus-point game of the season, joining guys like Devin Booker, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and other multi-time all-stars.
Could he be next?
Flynn was shipped to the Knicks as part of the package sending OG Anunoby to New York. He was then sent to Detroit at the trade deadline as part of the deal for Bojan Bogdanovic.
His former Raptors and Knicks teammates had things to say about the guard's out-of-left-field performance.
To make the 50 points even more impressive, he's also one of only five players this season to hit the milestone in 25 shots or less, joining former Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson.
For the real hoop heads out there, this sort of game might not be too shocking from Flynn. The guard scored an absurd 73 points once in a pro-am game prior to the 2022 NBA season.
Coincidentally, it happened at the 'Craws-over' pro-am, a summer basketball league run by Jamal Crawford, one of the other two players in NBA history (Nick Anderson being the other) to score 50 points off the bench in a game.
Some other cool stats:
According to ESPN stats, Flynn has the lowest career scoring average of all 50-point scorers in NBA history.
He's the first-ever player to reach 50 points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and three 3-pointers off the bench.
He joins Doncic, Antetokounmpo and Brunson as the only players to hit 50 points on 70+ per cent from the field.
He now has as many 50-point games as Hall-of-Famers Tim Duncan, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller, among others.
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