What do the names Corey Brewer, Mo Williams, Saddiq Bey and Terrence Ross have in common? All of them are players with a 50-point game in their NBA careers. Pistons guard Malachi Flynn might have surpassed them all.
Flynn certainly qualifies as one of the most unexpected players to score 50 points in a game, as he scored 50 in a loss to the Hawks on Thursday with spectacular efficiency. Flynn was 18 of 25 overall, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
Flynn scored 50 points in a way Brewer, Williams and the rest didn’t: off the bench. The former Raptors first-rounder didn’t start against Atlanta, but he outscored each of his teammates by at least 39 points in a surprising effort.
Here’s what you need to know about Flynn and which other players have scored 50 points off the bench.
Who is Malachi Flynn?
Flynn is a fourth-year player who was selected 29th overall by the Raptors in 2020. He has started just 21 of his 207 career games and has spent this season with the Raptors, Knicks and Pistons.
The Pistons acquired Flynn from the Knicks in the deal that sent Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks to New York. He was previously included in the trade that sent OG Anunoby to the Knicks.
Flynn entered Wednesday’s game averaging just 4.6 points per game on the season and shooting 41.1 percent from the field. He averages 5.2 points per game in four NBA seasons. He is he lowest average per game for any player who has scored 50 points in a game.
A solid college career put Flynn on NBA radars before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He was the centerpiece of a San Diego State team that hoped to clinch a top-two berth in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, averaging 17.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game on its way to the Mountain West Player of the Year honors. Flynn spent the first two seasons of her college career at Washington State.
Despite finding himself in a solid situation with a well-coached Raptors team that was preparing for Kyle Lowry’s potential departure after 2020-21, Flynn never emerged as a legitimate starting option in Toronto.
One game won’t define Flynn’s career, but with the regular season ending in less than two weeks and free agency ahead for the young guard, it’s an ideal time for the 25-year-old to make a statement like this and show teams what he can do.
50-point games off the bench
| Player | Points | Date | Equipment |
| Jamal Crawford | 51 | April 9, 2019 | Suns |
| Malachi Flynn | fifty | April 3, 2023 | Pistons |
| Nick Anderson | fifty | April 23, 1993 | Magic |
Flynn is the third player in NBA history to score 50 points off the bench. He fell one point shy of tying Jamal Crawford’s record of 51, which was set in what many believed was his final NBA game (Crawford briefly appeared in one more game with the Nets in the bubble a year later).
Until Crawford’s night in 2019, former Magic guard Nick Anderson was the only player to score 50 points off the bench in an NBA game. Anderson averaged 19.9 points per game during the 1992-93 season, so his offensive outburst certainly wasn’t as surprising as Flynn’s.
Malachi Flynn Statistics
Below are Flynn’s career stats heading into Wednesday night’s game:
| Season | Equipment) | Games | PTS | REB | AST | GF% | 3P% |
| 2020-21 | Raptors | 47 | 7.5 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 37.4% | 32.1% |
| 2021-22 | Raptors | 44 | 4.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 39.3% | 33.3% |
| 2022-23 | Raptors | 53 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 36.0% | 35.3% |
| 2023-24 | TOR, NYK, DET | 62 | 4.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 41.1% | 34.6% |
| Career | 206 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 38.3% | 33.8% |
