When the Atlanta Hawks made the trade to move on from the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray partnership — sending Murray to New Orleans — the acquisition of Dyson Daniels appeared to be more of an afterthought: a player to take a flier on but not the main reason you make the trade.
Then came Daniels’ stunning debut season with the Hawks, putting together an incredible defensive campaign in which he averaged three steals per game and won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. When he spoke in receipt of that
award, Daniels believed there was another level he could rise to, that he could potentially even win the award the following season, such was his belief that his game could continue to grow.
However, it didn’t quite pan out that way for Daniels last season. While his incredible three steals per game was always going to be difficult to repeat in back-to-back campaigns, Daniels didn’t quite kick on offensively in his second season with the Hawks. In the case of his three-pointer, Daniels regressed significantly, shooting 18.8% from three. What started as a slow-start shooting the ball became something that you could see in Daniels’ head every time he was open from three; he would show reluctance to shoot the ball. This seemed to snowball as the season went on. Defensively, on the ball, Daniels was as dependable as ever, but in the NBA playoffs there is little place to hide. The Knicks had little interest in guarding Daniels at the perimeter, or assigning Karl-Anthony Town — a center — to guard Daniels and sit-off. While Daniels shot an improved 28% from three in the series, by the end of it all, there was a bit of head-scratching as to where Daniels goes offensively from here heading into his third season with the Hawks.
Over the offseason, shooting has been one of the top priorities for Daniels to focus on.
“Obviously shooting was very bad last year for me and it’s been a focal point for me in this offseason,” said Daniels. “For me, it’s been about all sequencing in my shot getting more rhythm through my shot, getting more energy through my legs so I can get my arc up. My big thing with me was it was a very flat shot, so trying to get more off so that’s been a big focus for me the offseason.”
Three-point shooting isn’t the focal point of Daniels’ offense. Daniels thrives best on the drive, getting into the paint and getting to his spin moves or his floater, or moving off the ball. However, Daniels will have to be able to make an improvement on his shooting this season, and it’s hard to envision a scenario where he has a poorer shooting season than last season. Specifically, he can he improve his corner shooting this would go a long way to improving his percentage, especially as they will likely be open threes.
If Daniel is able to improve his shooting percentages, it will open up better opportunities for him inside the paint. When the Knicks backed off Daniels, not only was it a sign they wanted him to shoot the three, but in the event he drove it also gave the Knicks a head-start on drives. Daniels has also prioritised working on his offense in the paint over the summer.
“Just a lot of a lot of playing off two feet in the paint using my size,” said Daniels of his offseason work. “Being more physical trying to get to the foul line a lot more so, different pivot different footwork, just being more patient in the paint has also been another focus for me this offseason.”
“That’s been a big focus for me is getting the paint, so it’s about how can I get there using different fakes using my eyes and stuff like that trying to throw a defender off,” added Daniels. “Change of paces and stuff like they all go into ball handling, so that’s been a big thing for me as well. I’m honestly really happy with how my ball handling has been this offseason and I feel very comfortable with the ball in my hands.”
Daniels will have the ball in his hands not just to score, but in terms of his playmaking the Hawks will rely on Daniels as one of their primary creators along with CJ McCollum, Jalen Johnson, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Defensively, Dyson has seen increasing perimeter reinforcements over the span of his Hawks career. Last season, Alexander-Walker arrived to bolster the defense; now, Lu Dort will provide another defensive, physical body on the perimeter to aid Daniels and the Hawks defensively.
“I was super excited,” said Daniels of learning of the trade for Dort. “Elite defender, championship player coming in with experience that can really help us. I would love to call ourselves the best trio in the backcourt defensive trio in the NBA but we got to show up first. Looking forward to getting out there on the court and competing with the guys. I think we made some really good moves this offseason. We got a lot of guys that can defend so it’s we want to go out there and make that a focal point.”
The defensive versatility the Hawks now boast, with Daniels being the founding member, of sorts, should be extremely fun to watch night in and night out. Offensively, there’ll be some question marks with Daniels’ and Dort’s three-point shooting, and I wonder how crunch-time lineups will look like. Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be musts as will, in all likelihood, Onyeka Okongwu. CJ McCollum will likely be another to close out a game, which leaves potentially just one spot left for one of Daniels/Dort — Hawks head coach Quin Snyder will likely have to get creative with his timeouts and his offense/defense subs because there’s only five spots on the floor at closing time and Daniels’ lack of three-point shooting will influence this decision late in the game.
It’s not a stretch to say that the success of Daniels’ season and how far it may go will depend on a resurgence of a three-point shot. Time will soon tell if this is who Daniels is shooting from the perimeter, or if the comeback is truly on. In the meantime, the Hawks can still enjoy one of the best perimeter defenders in the league every night and a growing and improving offensive game inside the arc, and 2026-27 should prove no exception.
