Victor Wembanyama became the fourth-youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game as he led the San Antonio Spurs to a 139-130 win over the Washington Wizards.
The three players who scored 50 points at a younger age than the 20-year-old Frenchman were Brandon Jennings, LeBron James and Devin Booker, all of whom were also aged 20.
The Spurs centre, whose previous high score was 40, notched up his 50-point total in just 26 minutes, and he also had eight three-pointers, another career milestone.
“I’d love to tell you that you wake up a certain way or you feel really smooth during warm-ups, but at the end of the day, in NBA games we got one game every other day,” said Wenbanyama, the first overall pick in last year’s draft.
“So every time we struggle to warm up, we have pain, you know, we sweat, we bleed on the court, so it’s really a minute-to-minute thing, it comes to 48 minutes every game.”
It was the third straight game in which Wembanyama hit six-plus three-pointers.
The Spurs again won without head coach Gregg Popovich after they announced on Wednesday that the 75-year-old had suffered a mild stroke earlier this month but was expected to make a full recovery.
The game was level at the break (67-67) but the Spurs ended the third quarter with a 23-6 run which put them 108-91 up and although the Wizards cut the lead to five points late on, they ran out of time.
Devin Vassell added 17 points for the Spurs while Julian Champagnie had 12 and Harrison Barnes, Stephon Castle and Blake Wesley finished with 10 apiece.
Elsewhere, Giannis Antetokounmpo hit an NBA season-high 59 points as the Milwaukee Bucks needed overtime to beat the Detroit Pistons 127-120.
It was the ninth 50-plus point outing for the two-time Most Valuable Player and the second best of his career, after his 64 points against the Indiana Pacers last season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their unbeaten start to the season, making it 13 straight wins with a 114-106 victory at the Philadelphia 76ers.
The success sees them become only the sixth team to start a season with a 13-0 record and the first since the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16.
Darius Garland led the Cavs with 25 points while Donovan Mitchell had 23 points, nine assists and 13 rebounds.
And in Los Angeles, LeBron James had his third consecutive triple-double as the Lakers maintained their unbeaten home record with a 128-123 success over the Memphis Grizzlies.
James finished with 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds while Anthony Davis had 21 points and 14 rebounds.
