Dyson Daniels is making life miserable for ball handlers around the NBA, and he’s done it in a hurry.
Through Atlanta’s first two games, the Hawks guard has piled up 12 steals, a number that already stands out on its own and has put his disruptive style front and center. Daniels has been all over the floor, using his anticipation, quick hands and nonstop pressure to turn defense into a weapon for Atlanta.
His impact was obvious in the Hawks’ 132-125 season-opening win over the Orlando Magic, when he came away with five steals to go with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists. He raised the bar even higher on Friday in Atlanta’s 128-81 win over the Charlotte Hornets, finishing with seven steals, 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists as the Hawks moved to 2-0.
That 12-steal start is the most by any NBA player through the first two games of a season this century.
Daniels didn’t sugarcoat what happened against Charlotte after the game.
"In this game they were just giving it to me, I'm not going to lie. They were throwing it in my hands," Daniels said.
For Atlanta, the numbers matter beyond the box score. Daniels’ activity is creating turnovers and giving the Hawks extra chances to get out in transition, which has helped open up easier scoring opportunities early in the season.
The Australian guard’s defense is quickly becoming one of the defining stories of Atlanta’s unbeaten start. If he keeps this up, another All-Defensive selection could be in play. For opposing teams, the message is already clear: the basketball is not safe when Dyson Daniels is nearby.
In Other News...
Dyson Daniels Is Giving Hawks Fans A New Reason To Believe
Dyson Daniels kept setting the tone on the defensive end in Atlantas 128-81 rout of the Hornets, and the Hawks have to like how quickly he is becoming part of what they want to be. The guard filled up the box score with activity, piling up steals, rebounds and assists while helping fuel a lopsided win that pushed Atlanta to a 2-0 start and gave the early season plenty of reason for optimism.
The larger question around Daniels still lingers, though, because the offseason work on his shooting has not shown up in the way he or the Hawks likely hoped. Even with his defensive impact already swinging games, the next step in his development remains an open thread, and Atlanta will keep watching to see when that side of his game starts to follow the same upward trajectory. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Get An Early Identity Test With 3-0 On The Line
The early-season pulse check gets a little sharper for Atlanta with Houston coming in as the kind of opponent that can expose soft spots. The Hawks have a chance to move to 3-0, but the Rockets bring a defensive edge that should make this more than a routine tune-up, especially for a team still trying to define what its identity looks like on both ends.
Jalen Johnson is part of the conversation because matchups like this tend to show where Atlanta is comfortable and where it still has work to do. Houstons physical style, particularly around the paint and the boards, figures to put the Hawks under a harder kind of pressure than they have seen so far, and this game should tell a lot about how ready they are to answer it. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Win Showed The Identity Change Fans Have Been Waiting For
Atlantas win over Charlotte was the kind of game Hawks fans have been waiting to see more often, with the lead never really in doubt and the defense setting the tone from the opening stretch. The teams renewed emphasis on being deeper and tougher showed up in the way it disrupted the Hornets, turned defense into offense, and got important contributions from Daniels, Aaron Wiggins, Kingston Flemings, and Corey Kispert.
The bigger takeaway was not just the result, but the style of it. Atlanta has talked all season about building an identity on the defensive end, and this one looked much closer to that vision, with the Hawks active, connected and relentless in a way that can travel when the schedule gets harder. If this is the standard they can keep reaching, it changes the conversation around what this team can become. [Read more 🡒]