Cooper Flagg, Ryan Nembhard make NBA history in Mavericks' win over Miami Heat

The Mavericks rookies continue to shine in a way no one expected.

Dec 3, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) celebrates with Dallas Mavericks guard Ryan Nembhard (9) after scoring during the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks picked up a third straight win on Wednesday night by beating the Miami Heat in upset fashion, 118-108. It wasn't that long ago when any win would've seemed like a minor miracle with this team, but now they've won games in a row against the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat, two of the better teams in their respective conferences.

A big reason for that is the Mavericks' rookie tandem of Cooper Flagg and Ryan Nembhard. They ended up on the team in different ways, as the Mavs lucked into the first overall pick to select Flagg, while Nembhard somehow slipped out of the draft and they picked him up on a two-way contract soon afterwards. And they've been dynamite as of late.

In Wednesday's win over the Heat, Flagg led all scorers with 22 points on an efficient in 9/13 shooting while chipping in six rebounds. Nembhard had his playmaking on display and finished with 15 points and a game-high 13 assists and both of them made NBA history with those performances.

Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to have 20+ points in three straight games, as he 35 points against the Clippers on Saturday, 24 against the Nuggets on Monday, and 22 on Wednesday against Miami. He is clearly becoming more and more comfortable with every game, and it helps that he isn't being asked to play point guard now, and that's because of Nembhard.

Nembhard is the first undrafted rookie in NBA history (in the modern draft era) to have back-to-back games of 15+ points and 10+ assists, per Elias Sports. It's incredible the type of production he's putting up considering he's an undrafted rookie and has only played 10 NBA games.

Cooper Flagg is the youngest player in NBA history to have 3-straight 20-point games. pic.twitter.com/3B6tVT6J6w

— Real Sports (@realapp) December 4, 2025

READ MORE: 3 overreactions as Mavericks down Heat, establish three-game winning streak

Mavericks Need to Explore Opportunities to Convert Ryan Nembhard

The Mavericks have a full 15-person roster, but they're going to need to find a way to convert Nembhard to a standard contract. He has about 34 games remaining on his two-way contract before he's no longer eligible to play games. Kyrie Irving could return by then, but there's always a chance they hold him out longer if there's any setback or if the team has a limited chance of making the postseason.

They can't waive anyone until January 6th to make room for Nembhard, but even that would push them up against the second apron. What they need to do is find a way to make a trade where they send out more players than they get back, and one of those players should be Caleb Martin, because his salary is handicapping the team's future finances. Same with Jaden Hardy. If one or both of those players could go, it would help the books a lot.

READ MORE: Mavs' rookie star Cooper Flagg earns huge NBA recognition

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