Malachi Flynn drops out-of-nowhere 50 points as Pistons lose to Hawks

Malachi Flynn became one of the most surprising players in NBA history to post 50 points in a game on Wednesday.

In 34 minutes off the bench for the Detroit Pistons, Flynn posted 50 points on 18-of-25 shooting (5-of-9 from deep), six rebounds, five assists and four steals. However, it wasn't enough for the Pistons to avoid a 121-113 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

That performance ties Flynn for the second-most points off the bench in NBA history, behind only Jamal Crawford's 51 points on April 9, 2019, and makes him only the third bench player ever to reach the half-century mark off the bench.

The closest a Pistons player had previously come to 50 this season was Cade Cunningham with 43. Flynn's total also blows out his previous career high of 27 points.

Flynn simply isn't the kind of player you see score 50 points in a game. He was the 29th overall pick for the Toronto Raptors in the 2020 NBA Draft and has never carved out a consistent role as a starter. His most productive season was a rookie year in which he averaged 7.5 points 19.7 minutes per game.

Since then, Flynn has averaged only 12.3 minutes per game. He played 2 1/2 more seasons for the Raptors before getting dealt to the New York Knicks in the O.G. Anunoby trade, then landed with the Pistons as the return for Bojan Bogdanović.

Put it this way: Flynn scored 14.9% of his points this season on Wednesday, and 4.4% of his career points.