Hawks’ Dyson Daniels completes rare 200-steal season

On Sunday, Dyson recorded his 200th steal of the season after he picked off wing Justin Edwards in the Hawks’ matchup against Sixers. With 11:17 to play in the third quarter, Daniels read Edwards’ eyes as he barreled across the paint. He jumped up and grabbed the ball and found Trae Young, who hit Mouhamed Gueye with an alley-oop from half court.

Daniels picked up his fourth steal of the game 18 seconds later.

It didn’t take Daniels long to get to work. Just 42 seconds into the game, Daniels fought through a screen and after he recovered, he got his hands up to deflect a two-handed pass from 76ers wing Quentin Grimes. Twenty-four seconds later, Daniels swatted the ball away from Chuma Okeke to pick up his second steal in the first two minutes of the game.

“We’ve talked a lot about Dyson and some of the metrics and clearly in my mind he’s the Defensive Player of the Year,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “I think in a lot of people’s minds, the things that he’s doing, even offensively the double-doubles. I think maybe the conversation should go to his character, because, as I’ve thought about and answered those questions about his balance, his anticipation, a lot of the attributes that allow him to do are usually focused on what he does on the court.

“And I think the correlation between who he is as a player and who he is as a person is very high. So the work ethic, it’s just every day consistent. That’s who he is, that’s his character, and that manifests itself on how he plays, and that’s how he defends. He’s just constantly there. He’s fearless. I think you can see that at certain moments it jumps out more than others, where there’s a willingness that he has to take risks. He chooses when, and he’s good at making those assessments, but he’s got a fearlessness that manifests itself in his confidence.”

The 22-year-old has had a breakout season with the Hawks, after they acquired him from the Pelicans last July in exchange for Dejounte Murray. He has averaged a league-best three steals per game and has had at least one steal in 41 consecutive games, tying former Hawks guard Mookie Blaylock for the third-longest such streak in franchise history.

Daniels has consistently antagonized opposing players, earning the reputation of a ball hawk from players around the NBA. His activity and relentlessness on the defensive end have forced coaches to gameplan against him in order for their top scorers to get to their spots and score.

“He’s got a great chance (at defensive player of the year),” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Just watching tape to prepare for this game, first two games, I turned on three steals immediately in each game. It was remarkable. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. Like, literally, first three possessions of the game, three steals.

“So he’s a wrecking crew. He causes a lot of havoc and great hands, great anticipation. So he’s, for sure, first team all defense. And I think he’s, he’s right in the in the mix, especially with (Victor) Wembanyama out. Think he’s got a great shot at it.”

Entering into Sunday’s matchup against the 76ers, Daniels had 197 steals, 79 more than Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who ranks second.

He has had a historic start to his first season with the Hawks. He had 36 steals in his first 10 games in a Hawks uniform, the most steals by a player through the first 10 games since 2003-04. He also had a three-game streak where he had 6-plus steals from November 8-12, becoming the first player in the NBA since Robert Covington did this in 2015. He’s also just the fourth player in the NBA since at least 1972-73 to do achieve this feat.

But even if Daniels doesn’t come away with the ball to complete the steal, the 22-year-old has dominated on the defensive end. He leads the NBA in deflections with 388, well above Sixers guard Kelly Oubre, who ranks second.

Daniels dropped to third in the odds for Defensive Player of the Year, behind Cavaliers center Evan Mobley and Warriors big Draymond Green.

Though Daniels may not win the award for the top individual defender this season, he etched his name in the record books.

“There’s like a poise that he has and that consistency, I think in a lot of ways, we all certainly, as a coach when the profession and the games, you can react so much, be so emotional, and he’s got a unique balance of that poise and that patience with himself, I think.” Snyder said. “And you also see within that there’s been a few times this year was like, ‘Did he actually do that? Did he walk up and say that?’

“Oftentimes people may not hear it, but also he’s got an edge and competitiveness. And you start adding these qualities up that are more character traits than anything, and you watch it play, and of course, he plays that way. That’s who he is. He is fearless. He is poised. He is competitive. He is hard-working. That to me, is that that’s the interesting part of it.”