Acquired in the Dejounte Murray trade, Daniels made a massive contribution in his first year in Atlanta, winning Most Improved Player in his first season
Following the conclusion of the 2023-24 Atlanta Hawks, a Play-In defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bulls, it was seemed apparent that the Trae Young/Dejounte Murray partnership had not had the impact the Hawks had hoped for, and was going to be terminated in the summer; whether it was Young that was traded or Murray, it wasn’t going to be run back.
In the end, the Hawks found a trade partner in the New Orleans Pelicans, who acquired Dejounte Murray. While the haul was never going to be on the same level as the Hawks had given up for Murray back in 2022, the return has aged a lot better than could have been expected, and Dyson Daniels is the reason why this is now a landslide victory trade for the Atlanta Hawks.
Daniels arrived from New Orleans with a defensive reputation, and it did not take long for his immense defensive potential to be felt throughout the organization. In a preseason game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Daniels did a very impressive defensive job guarding Tyrese Maxey, and it did not go unnoticed.
“I see one of the best defenders in the league,” said Young of Daniels after the game. “Every time he’s on the ball he’s pressuring the ball. It helps our defense, it kills time off the clock. That’s what teams try to do versus us, they try and pick me up fullcourt and get the ball out of my hands and trying to use clock before we get across halfcourt. We’ve got one of those guys now and he’s going to help us a lot throughout the season. We’ll get wins because of the impact that he has on the defensive end.”
“Dyson is so effective on the ball, he takes so much pride in it,” added Quin Snyder following the same game.
Each and every night, Daniels brought the defensiveness competitiveness the Hawks have sorely needed in a backcourt position. Daniels represented the Hawks’ best on-ball defender and would often take the opposing teams’ best offensive player. One such example was Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, with Daniels helping limit Edwards to a 7-of-20 shooting performance, helped by plays such as this where Daniels is able to stay in front of his man and use his elite length to contest the shot:
“Anthony Edwards is a great player and Dyson is always wanting and willing to take a challenge,” said Quin Snyder after the game.
In a game against the Sacramento Kings in November, Daniels’ activity helps disrupt De’Aaron Fox to seal victory:
“He’s been so helpful, he’s such a smart player,” said Trae Young of Daniels. “He knows when to be aggressive and when guys come over to help, he knows how to get them the ball too. He’s a very smart player; he’s helped us a lot.”
Daniels was fantastic to watch defensively on-ball, but it’s impossible to mention Daniels’ defensive contributions without discussing the steals, all of those steals.
A league leading three steals per game, and a whopping 229 steals in total for the season — the next highest number behind Daniels was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 131 steals — an astronomical difference separating Dyson Daniels from the rest of the league.
Every game, Daniels was a menace defensively and it was a joy to watch him procure steal after steal, racking up a historic season, the most steals in a season since Gary Payton’s 231 steals in 1996-1997. Daniels’ exploits earned him the nickname ‘The Great Barrier Thief.’
I mean, in this spot, you could place all 229 of his steals but here’s just a few highlights of Daniels’ many steals across the season.
In the lane, Daniels just rips the ball away from Mark Williams for a steal:
In an overtime game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Daniels gets a critical steal, and despite being blocked by LeBron James, the Hawks get a crucial possession nevertheless:
This steal from Daniels on the road against Memphis at the end of the game set up Caris LeVert to score a buzzer-beating winner:
“That’s what I do,” said Daniels of his steals after a November game against the Detroit Pistons. “Active hands, getting deflections, try and make it tough for the ball handler bringing it up. Some nights I’m going to get a lot of them, some nights it’s going to be a little quieter. Tonight it was a good night for me on the defensive end but that last play stings a little bit.”
Daniels’ incredible season procuring steals resulted in multiple six-steal games, two seven-steal games, and an incredible eight-steals game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in late December. It was a very fitting performance for Daniels, who had received the award for the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month for November.
“I didn’t even know it was an award, to be honest,” admitted Daniels at the time. “But now I know it’s an award, I’ll go for it every month for sure … it means a lot (to win it). I put in a lot of effort on that end of the floor so to get a bit of recognition for it is always special.”
Daniels would go on to win the award again for the month of March, and would be a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. In the end, Daniels finished runner-up to Evan Mobley for Defensive Player of the Year, beating out Draymond Green to second place with 25 first place first votes.
Defensively, Daniels was a joy to watch and his impact was immense. However, it wasn’t the only side of his game that the Hawks saw a huge amount of growth as his offense improved throughout the year.
Daniels showed improvement in shooting the three-pointer, increasing his percentage to 34% on three attempts per game (up from 31% on two attempts). Daniels made a huge improvement in his overall efficiency in his jump shot, increasing from 38% on all jump shots in 2023-24 to 42% in 2024-25. Daniels’ offense off the dribble was arguably where the biggest improvement came.
Off of an offensive rebound and kick-back, Daniels’ quick burst carries him to the rim for the basket:
Daniels combined his ability to get downhill off the dribble with one of his greatest strengths offensively: his floater.
Last season in New Orleans — obviously in a lesser offensive role — Daniels attempted 45 floaters and converted 23 of these attempts for 51.1%. In Atlanta, Daniels’ percentage decreased slightly but mostly because of enormous increase of volume as he shot 47.6% on 185 attempted floaters.
On this play here, Daniels drives into the lane, gathers himself, and hits the floater with the defense back-pedaling:
Coming off the screen on this possession, again, Daniels gets the defense back-pedaling and Daniels is very comfortable getting into his floater:
In a tight fourth quarter game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Daniels gets downhill on the drive and hits another floater:
He also grew more confident in his spin moves, using one here off the drive to get into his floater:
Daniels’ off-ball movement also really opened up offensive opportunities for himself.
Here, he makes a quick movement off the ball into the lane and quickly gets into his turnaround shot:
This play against Indiana was beautiful as he frees himself up to receive the ball and finishes at the rim:
A nice find from Onyeka Okongwu on this play finds a cutting Daniels for the finish at the rim:
Daniels reported early in the season that he hoped he alleviate some of the offensive burden for Trae Young.
“I’m trying to be more aggressive out there, trying to help Trae a little more, he’s doing a lot of the work there,” said Daniels in early November. “Trying to play off him a little bit, get to my floater and get downhill and finish at the rim. Last game was a shocker with the field goal percentage, so this game I was trying to be more aggressive and get to the rim, couple of threes went down tonight. Definitely trying to be more aggressive on that end, and I’m going to keep doing it.”
To that degree, Daniels certainly stepped up, and it wasn’t uncommon for Daniels to be the Hawks’ second leading scorer in games.
“Dyson is a hell of a player,” said Trae Young early in the season. “I’m probably going to be over-complimenting him all year! Just playing alongside him so far has been fun. He’s going to make my job a lot easier, on both ends. Not just defensively, offensively he cuts, he’s smart, I can get him the ball and if there’s not something there he’s coming right back to another action. He’s a smart player, a young player that’s still trying to establish himself, but I feel like here in Atlanta he’s going to do that and put himself on the map even more.”
Daniels not only put himself on the map defensively, and while he came up short in winning Defensive Player of the Year, he did win the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, and a look at the splits between last season and this season reflects how much he has grown in Atlanta.
A huge increase in efficiency and production almost everywhere across the board, and you can see why Daniels made such a compelling case for multiple awards this season having finally been given the opportunity.
“My first two years in New Orleans I felt I couldn’t do anything there and feel myself, kind of took a backseat role,” said Daniels to TNT after winning the award. “I came into this third year wanting to put my foot down and go out there and show what I can do. I think it’s just a small step in the right direction this year, and I feel like I’ve got a lot more in me.”
“I really believe I could believe this award twice because I know I’ve got so much more left in me to show in this league and so much more improvement,” added Daniels. “It’s going to be about taking that next step next year and setting new goals. I want to be a championship player. I set the bar high to go out there and execute that now.”
Daniels’ season came to an end as the Hawks were unable to advance through the NBA Play-In Tournament, during which Trae Young, who was ejected after he had had enough of the disrespect he felt the officials weren’t giving to teammates like Dyson Daniels.
“…Sometimes I take my frustration out on the refs not just for me but for my teammates,” said Young following the Hawks’ Play-In loss against Orlando. “I see Dyson Daniels going. He may not be household name yet but he deserves the same respect as some of these other guys…”
Despite the Hawks’ disappointing end to the 2024-25 season, Dyson Daniels’ season was an overwhelming success. Now, a summer of work lies ahead for the Aussie, who has seemingly a lot on his list to improve upon over the summer.
“On the offensive end I showed what I could do and glimpses of what I can be,” said Daniels during the Atlanta Hawks’ exit interviews. “Obviously made a huge jump from my second year in New Orleans coming here getting a bigger role, better opportunity and playing alongside Trae who is really good at finding me and makes my job a lot easier. It’s a small step in the direction I want to go, there’s so much more development in me and so much more I can do and better at. I’m excited to where I can get to and it starts this summer working on my game, building my bag a bit to become a better scorer, work on my handle, working on my finishing, maybe adding in pull-up mid-range, stepback, whatever it may be. I’m excited to see where I can get to and I know I’m going to put in the work and get the best out of myself.”