Malachi Flynn has played for three different NBA teams this season. The Toronto Raptors traded away the former first-round pick in the trade that sent OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks, and the Knicks, despite their lackluster depth at point guard, decided to deal Flynn to the Detroit Pistons in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade. That's how low Flynn's value around the league has gotten. And yet here he is, emerging as a silly-season hero for the Pistons, and off the bench, no less.

On Wednesday night, the Pistons were without Cade Cunningham, paving the way for someone to step up in their contest against the Atlanta Hawks. That's exactly what Flynn did. Despite coming off the bench to back up Marcus Sasser and Jaden Ivey, Flynn put up the performance of a lifetime, scoring 50 points on a must be seen to be believed 18-25 shooting from the field (5-9 from deep), to prop up the Pistons offense in a 121-113 loss to the Hawks.

Not a single person in this world would have thought before the 7:30 PM E.T. tip-off time that Malachi Flynn would turn up the way he did for the Pistons despite the loss. Flynn, in dropping a 50-bomb, has now etched his name onto the list of the most unlikely players to score 50, sparking an uproar on social media.

“Malachi Flynn is the epitome of ‘so just anyone droppin 50 now,'” one fan wrote. Wrote another, “‘malachi flynn' scoring 50 welcome adam sliver's nba man.”

Here are a few more notable reactions to the unlikely nature of Malachi Flynn's career night.

“Malachi Flynn had 50 off the bench and we still lost by 8 …. Mayne this been a season!!!!! This has been a wild season Mayne!” – @ksea43

“Malachi Flynn dropped 50 bro is this even real life ?” – @deidro1

“Malachi Flynn 50 piece is the most insane thing to happen this year.” – @propsheets

Pistons guard Malachi Flynn and the most unlikely 50-point games in history

Malachi Flynn, be prepared to be mentioned in the same sentence as the following players for the rest of your career: Corey Brewer, Tony Delk, Andre Miller, and Terrence Ross, four players who put up surprising 50-burgers in their careers as well.

Brewer has never been a high-usage scorer, so him popping off for 51 (on mostly transition buckets) was a sight to see. Delk didn't put up large scoring totals, but he loved to put up shots whenever he was on the court. Miller, despite never being a scorer, was always a quality floor general. Ross also had the skillset to put up high scoring totals, which is then accentuated by his score-first mentality.

However, Malachi Flynn might take the cake for the most out of nowhere 50-point game in NBA history. He is averaging 5.2 points for his career; with the Pistons, he entered the night averaging 5.8 points in 11 minutes per game over his first 17 games in the Motor City.

Flynn's previous career-high in scoring before his 50-piece was 27, which he tallied back in May 2021, and for his career (206 games before tonight), he had only scored over 20 points for a grand total of six times. Entering tonight, the Pistons guard only scored in double figures 41 times, or less than 20 percent of the time.

Silly season is indeed upon us; even though it's a safe bet that Malachi Flynn won't put up a scoring game of this magnitude in the NBA ever again, he at least treated the Pistons to a bona fide superstar performance amid a demoralizing season.