What Dyson Daniels did to fix his biggest weakness

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Australian Dyson Daniels hasn’t shied away from the biggest weakness in his game last season, revealing he had spent the NBA offseason putting in the work.

“Obviously, shooting was very bad last year for me, and it’s been a focal point this offseason,” Daniels said today at the Atlanta Hawks media day.

“For me, it’s been about sequencing in my shot, getting more rhythm through my shot and more energy through my legs so I can get my arc up. A big thing with me was that it was a very flat shot, so I’m trying to get more arc.

“I’ve also done a lot of work playing off two feet in the paint, using my size, being more physical and trying to get to the foul line a lot more.

“Different pivots, different footwork and being more patient in the paint have been another focus for me. I’m happy with where it’s at. It’s about going out there and putting it on the floor.”

His 2025-26 campaign was defined by his anaemic 22-for-117 (18.8%) shooting from three-point range despite moving permanently into the point guard spot after Trae Young’s injury and subsequent trade.

“Last year, a lot of the time I was bringing it up and initiating offence,” Daniels added.

“Ball handling is something I was never good at as a kid, but I think I’ve got it to a level where I’m very comfortable handling against pressure and using different moves to throw defenders off, get to the paint and play off two feet.

“Getting in the paint has been a big focus for me. It’s about how I can get there using different fakes, using my eyes to throw a defender off, and changing pace. They all go into ball-handling.

“I’m really happy with how my ball-handling has been this offseason, and I feel very comfortable with the ball in my hands.”

BBall-Index’s LEBRON Metric (Luck-adjusted player Estimate using a Box prior Regularised ON-OFF) reveals Daniels has more than DOUBLED his impact from 2024-25 to 2025-26 (1.02 > 2.18)

The next layer of the LEBRON Metric is LEBRON WAR, which is the impact on wins – and it’s already at an All-Star level.

In the season he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award, his WAR was 5.62; last season, it was 7.33, which is in the 96th percentile, or the top 4% in the league.

He signed a USD $100M extension with the Hawks before the start of last season, and the Eastern Conference playoff team made significant moves in the off-season, including signing NBA champion Lu Dort to form a formidable defensive guard trio with Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

“I was super excited,” Daniels said.

“Obviously, Lu’s an elite defender, a championship player, a guy that’s coming in with experience that can really help us. I would love to call ourselves the best defensive backcourt trio in the NBA, but we’ve got to show up first.

“I’m 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’ve got a lot of guys that can defend, so we want to go out there and make that our focal point.”

Daniels is listed as the starting small forward in the Hawks' depth, which means he’s free to roam the passing lanes again. In 2024-25, the Victorian Australian Boomers star had 229 steals, the most this century, finishing tied for 20th in steals in a single season.

Instead, All-Star CJ McCollum is starting point guard.

“I think we all have a little bit different play styles,” Daniels said.

“When you have that, you can really gel together and play off each other. Obviously, those two are really good at scoring the ball. They can both defend as well. As a three, we talked all the time about how we can be better and how we can give each other opportunities to succeed.

“I like getting out in transition, and they would always give me the ball in transition to go make plays there. Them playing on ball and off ball gave us a lot of different ways to contribute to each other and the team.

“Obviously, the other guys helped us as well by setting good screens, pushing the pace and rebounding. I think our different play styles really went into us being good on the floor together.”

Daniels finished second to Evan Mobley in ‘24-25 Defensive Player of the Year voting, made the All-NBA First Team, won the Most Improved Player Award and followed it up with a second-team All-Defensive Team honour last season.

“I wouldn’t say there’s pressure to be the best defender or whatever,” Daniels said.

“That’s just my natural game. It’s what got me to the NBA. It’s what I’ve built my game on: defence. Having more guys coming in who can defend just makes it tougher on everyone.

“A lot of the NBA nowadays is trying to create switches and go at advantages and different match-ups. When you’ve got guys who can defend out there, it’s a lot harder to do that.

“You get switches, but there’s no advantage gained.

“I think we’ve got a really good defensive group. We’ve just got to go out there and show it. We’ve got to play on a string.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and competing.”

Daniels said new Los Angeles Lakers wing Matisse Thybulle and Australian Boomers bronze medallist was a constant study for him.

“One of the guys I really watch is Matisse Thybulle,” Daniels revealed.

“He’s obviously another Australian and probably the best in the league at reading passes, getting in the lanes and getting deflections. I watch his game to see his positioning, how he does that and how he has such an impact on that end of the floor.

“Lu is one of the best on-ball defenders, if not the best on-ball defender, in the NBA.

“He fights through screens, is really physical and really strong. He’s renowned for his physicality. I’ve seen him shut down players in the regular season, so I’m going to learn from him a lot this year. I’m excited for us to learn from each other.”

The Hawks play their first NBA pre-season game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 10am (AEDT). They open their season against the Orlando Magic on Thursday, October 22 at 10am (AEDT).