The best thing that might’ve happened to Dyson Daniels was getting out of New Orleans. On Dec. 3, Daniels faced the team that drafted him for the first time in his career, and he showed them exactly what they let go. Daniels finished with 19 points, six rebounds, two assists and four steals in a 124-112 win over the Pelicans. Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young finished with 12 points and 15 assists, and DeAndre Hunter finished with a team-high 22 points. It was a solid win for the Hawks and it proved exactly why they made the move for Daniels.
When the trade was first made, nobody would’ve believed it would play out this way. The Pelicans got the best player in the trade in Dejounte Murray. The Pelicans pretty much gave up the farm for him. The Hawks sent Murray to New Orleans for E.J. Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller, Dyson Daniels, and two first-round picks in return. Murray was supposed to join Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram to create a big four, but that vision never came to be. Murray broke his hand opening night, and he just came back a few games ago. Williamson and Ingram have both been out with injuries for most of the season, adding to their injury woes.
Daniels, on the other hand, has flourished since the trade. On most nights he looks like the Hawks’ second-best player, and there have been multiple nights, last night included, where he has been the best Hawk on the floor. He came to Atlanta and fit in seamlessly right away, something Murray wasn’t able to do even after two full seasons. Daniels has turned himself into arguably the best defender in the league, and him leading the league in steals and deflections speak to that. Early this month, he had four straight games with at least six steals, which was the second-longest streak in NBA history only behind Alvin Robertson. He now leads the league in steals and it’s not even close; he has 61 steals in 20 games, averaging 3.1 a night and is the first player to achieve this since Michael Carter-Williams did this his rookie year in 2013.
His defensive prowess hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Today, Dec. 3, Daniels was named the inaugural Kia Defensive Player of the Month for the Eastern Conference. He recorded 57 steals this month, which is 16 more than the next closest player. He also added 18 blocks, which gives him 75 stocks (steals + blocks) for the month, which was second-highest across the league. The only player with more stocks is Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, who was the Western Conference recipient of the award.
