2026-27 Atlanta Hawks player preview: Dyson Daniels

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.

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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…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2026-27-atlanta-hawks-player-110000595.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-12 11:00:00

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