Cooper Flagg tops LeBron James with record-breaking performance

To say that this Dallas Mavericks season has been a disappointment would be a massive understatement.

Nevertheless, No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg has been given enough freedom to grow through his mistakes, and he's turned plenty of heads in his first year in the NBA. In fact, he's already broken one of LeBron James' most impressive marks.

With 42 points in the Mavericks' 140-133 overtime loss to the Utah Jazz, Flagg set a record for the most points scored by an 18-year-old in NBA history. James held that record for the past 22 years after dropping 37 points with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Cooper Flagg is chasing Kobe Bryant and LeBron James

Notably, that's not the only record the former Duke star can break soon. As pointed out by The Athletic, he's just 61 points behind Kobe Bryant for the second-most total points scored by a player before turning 19 years old (539).

LeBron James is still No. 1 on that list with 625 points, although Bryant wasn't a starter for most of his rookie season. Flagg still has two more games before his 19th birthday on Dec. 21, and while he'd have to put up 30.5 points per game, he's already proved to be more than capable of lighting it up from all three levels.

The Mavericks may not make the playoffs this season, and they clearly have several flaws to address, but it seems like they've found the right guy to carry the torch and lead them back to contention.