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Daniels reveals secrets to defensive greatness
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat grabs the loose ball as Dyson Daniels #5 of the Atlanta Hawks plays defense during the 2025 SoFi Play-In Tournament on April 18, 2025 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images
The defensive stopper demonstrates the tools he's used to break out in the NBA.
- Dyson Daniels was a finalist for the 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, he finished second behind Evan Mobley
- Daniels claimed the league's Most Improved Player award
- The Bendigo product had the most steals in a season since Gary Payton in 1996
The man, who many believed was snubbed in the race to be named the 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, has shared his secrets after his rise to one of the best stoppers in the best league in the world.
Australian Boomers and Atlanta Hawks star Dyson Daniels has demonstrated the tools he's used to breakout as one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA in a video on social media. A clip, which has been seen more than 570,000 times on X.
"I know, in my head, if I can bait (the passer) into things... I want to be in a position where you look like you can get the ball there but if you throw it, I'm gone," Daniels said in the video.
"I'm a step ahead."
The No.8 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft surprised many experts and fans with his standout 2024-25 season, playing in 76 games and starting in most on his way to 33 minutes per contest, and averaging career-high figures of 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists as he helped the Hawks to the seventh in the Eastern Conference before they were bundled out of the play-in tournament with back-to-back losses.
His impressive season helped him claim the NBA's Most Improved Player award. But it was the Defensive Player of the Year award that many experts, including Australian basketball icon Andrew Bogut as well as former NBA general manager Ryan McDonough thought he was a shoe-in for.
The Bendigo-born guard led the league in steals with three per game but in total, had the most steals (229) since Gary Payton in the 1995-96 season.
The next closest in steals was OKC superstar and 2024-25 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 131, Clippers guard Kris Dunn (128) and Denver's Nikola Jokić on 127. He was the first player since Scottie Pippen 30 years ago to have more than 200 steals and 50 blocks in a single NBA season.
Daniels also had the most deflections in the NBA with 448 in total and 5.8 per game.
His rise also put the spotlight on his former team, the New Orleans Pelicans, where he struggled for consistent playing time before being traded to the Hawks in July 2024 in the deal for Dejounte Murray.
In July, Hawks assistant coach Ronald Nored told basketball.com.au that Daniels' defensive dominance was so evident, opposing teams started going out of their way to avoid the Australian's wrath on the on the offensive end.
"I think that overall, those ball handlers that he's guarding, it's that the other team doesn't want Dyson guarding them and, so, getting other guys involved in the action with Dyson, I think was something that we saw over the course of the year," he said.
"But Dyson finds a way to mitigate that with his own abilities and instincts defensively.
"Credit to him for continuing to find ways to impact the game as teams started to game plan it a little bit against him."
