Cooper Flagg's career-high 51 points was the talk of the NBA world on Friday night, while simultaneously providing the Golden State Warriors with a reminder their absolute dream outcome with only six games left in the regular season.
A raft of injuries in recent months have decimated any chance the Warriors had of a deep playoff run, but luck at the lottery could change the fortunes of the franchise in a way it has for the Dallas Mavericks with Flagg.
Cooper Flagg reminds Warriors of their absolute dream outcome
Flagg pushed his case for Rookie of the Year in an emphatic way on Friday, becoming the first teenager ever to record a 50-point game, and only the ninth rookie to do so in NBA history.
His 51 came on an incredibly efficient 19-of-30 shooting from the floor, 6-of-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, while Flagg also added six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in less than 34 minutes.
Yet despite Flagg's career-best performance and 18 points on 4-of-10 3-point shooting from former Warrior Klay Thompson off the bench, the Mavericks still suffered a 138-127 defeat to the Orlando Magic -- perhaps the best possible outcome considering their tanking aims.
The Warriors aren't undertaking the same level of tanking as evidenced by Stephen Curry's anticipated return against the Houston Rockets on Sunday. However, injuries have still seen Golden State lose 22 of their past 33 games, seeing them fall to the 10th-seed in the Western Conference.
Warriors in same position as Mavericks were 12 months ago
The Warriors are likely to finish with the 11th-worst record in the league which is exactly where the Mavericks finished last season after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, while also losing Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL.
Against all odds -- so much so that it inspired plenty of conspiracy theories -- Dallas won the lottery from the same position Golden State are likely to be in this time around. Warrior fans shouldn't be expecting the same level of fortune, but even jumping into the top four of the draft -- which would be a 9.4% chance of happening -- would still be a fantastic result.
As fun as it would be for the Warriors to make it through the Play-In as the 10th-seed, Flagg's performance is a reminder that looking at the bigger picture and hoping to obtain one of the top picks in a loaded draft is still the best possible outcome from their current position.