Daniels beat out fellow finalists Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons and Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers to win the George Mikan Trophy for the NBA participant who displayed probably the most enchancment. The entire third-year guard’s numbers went means up with the Hawks, each his totals and his percentages.
His scoring went from 5.8 factors to 14.1, his rebounds from 3.9 to five.9, his assists from 2.7 to 4.4 and his steals went from 1.4 to a league-leading three per sport. Not solely did he lead the NBA in steals, he was the primary qualifying participant to common three steals once more since Alvin Robertson in 1990-91.
Daniels had a case to be named Defensive Participant of the 12 months this season as effectively, as a consequence of how disruptive his protection has been and the way far forward of the pack he’s. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was second in steals with 131. Daniels had practically 100 greater than that, ending with 229.
It is a comparable story on the subject of deflections. Daniels led the NBA with 443 deflections. The following closest participant was Keon Ellis with 272, which means Daniels had 63 p.c extra deflections than his closest competitors.
Whereas the protection alone confirmed great enchancment, Daniels additionally shot practically 50 p.c from the sphere and upped his three-point proportion from 31 p.c to 34 p.c and sank 100 extra three-pointers.
The Pelicans drafted Daniels with the No. 8 choose within the 2022 draft, however he merely did not get alternatives in New Orleans. Given an opportunity to thrive in Atlanta, he is wanting like a foundational piece for his or her future, alongside Jalen Johnson and high total choose Zaccharie Risacher. And since Daniels solely turned 22 in March, this season possible will not be the tip of his enchancment.
