Dyson Daniels

Lore & Background

Daniels was born on March 17, 2003, in Bendigo, Victoria, and started playing basketball at age seven. He attended Bendigo South East College. He signed with the Bendigo Braves, his father's former team, of the NBL1 for the 2019 season. Later that year, Daniels joined the NBA Global Academy, a training center at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. He helped Victoria win a silver medal at the 2021 Australian Under-20 Championships. Along with basketball, Daniels was a talented Australian rules footballer in his younger years and represented his home state of Victoria at several national football championships before giving up the sport to focus solely on basketball.

Reader's Guide

Daniels signed with the NBA G League Ignite on 21 June 2021. He competed in the Rising Stars Challenge at 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend and helped his team win the title. In 26 games in the G League, he averaged 12 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and two steals per game. On 16 April 2022, Daniels declared for the 2022 NBA draft.

He was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. Daniels joined the Pelicans' 2022 NBA Summer League roster but suffered a right-ankle sprain in the second quarter in the Pelicans' Summer League opener against the Portland Trail Blazers, forcing Daniels to be ruled as out for the rest of the Summer League. On 9 July 2022, Daniels signed a rookie-scale contract with the Pelicans. On 6 July 2024, Daniels, E. J. Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., and Cody Zeller (via sign-and-trade), a 2025 first-round pick (via Lakers), and a conditional 2027 first-round pick were traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dejounte Murray.

On 8 November 2024, Daniels put up seven steals in a 122–121 loss to the Detroit Pistons. On 15 November, Daniels became the first player since Michael Jordan in the 1989–90 season to record 15-plus points and five-plus steals in four consecutive NBA games and the first player since Alvin Robertson to record at least six steals in four consecutive NBA games. On 23 December, Daniels recorded a career-high eight steals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Daniels finished the 2024–25 season leading the NBA with an average of 3.01 steals per game, totaling 202 steals. This achievement made him the youngest player in NBA history to record 200 steals in a single season, surpassing Magic Johnson's previous record by 236 days. Daniels' defensive impact extended beyond steals; he also led the NBA in deflections (366) and ranked among the top players in combined steals and blocks ("stocks") with 229. Daniels also finished as the runner-up in the 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting, earning 25 first-place votes and 197 total points.

He was edged out by Cleveland Cavaliers forward-center Evan Mobley, who received 35 first-place votes and 285 total points.