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

Malachi Flynn became one of the most surprising players in NBA history as he scored 50 points in Wednesday's game.

In 34 minutes off the bench for the Detroit Pistons, Flynn scored 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.

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

He was seven points shy of the Pistons' franchise record.

The closest a Pistons player has previously reached 50 this season is Cade Cunningham with 43 points. Flynn's total also surpassed his previous career high of 27 points.

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

Since then, Flynn has averaged just 12.3 minutes per game. He played another two-and-a-half seasons with the Raptors before being traded to the New York Knicks in the OG Anunoby trade, then landing with the Pistons as a return for Bojan Bogdanovic.

Let's put it this way: Flynn scored 14.9% of his points this season on Wednesday, 4.4% of his career points.