DPOY or Most Improved? Dyson Daniels is on the chase for both awards

Dyson Daniels is enjoying a breakout season with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, and his recent performances have launched him into the frame for multiple end-of-season awards.

Dyson Daniels entered the 2024-25 NBA season with multiple questions around his role, minutes and growth as a player.

Traded by the team that drafted him, New Orleans, Daniels was sent to Atlanta while one-time All-Star Dejounte Murray went the other way. But it wasn’t a simple scenario where Daniels could just slot straight into the Hawks’ starting guard role left vacant by Murray. Trae Young was firmly entrenched in the point guard position already, and Bogdan Bogdanović was one of the NBA’s premier bench guards in the 2023-24 season, finishing fifth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting. A betting man would have expected Bogdanović to slide into the two guard position while Daniels played off the bench.

Even if Daniels did secure a starting role, there were concerns that he could be starved of touches, given Young’s dominance in handling the rock.