Could Keegan Murray's Extension be a Sign of Things To Come For Dyson Daniels?

Could this be what Daniels gets?

Daniels has not been a starter for as long as Murray has, but his season last year was more productive than anything that Murray has put together. Daniels had a historic defensive season that resulted in him being voted as the NBA's Most Improved Player and finishing in second for the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

The contract number that has been used as a comparison for Daniels has been Magic guard Jalen Suggs, who received a five-year $150 Million Deal last offseason.

Daniels contract number is tough to figure because while he did have a tremendous season in his first year in Atlanta, does he deserve that kind of number based off that one season? Not only that, but Daniels still has quite a ways to go on offense.

With that being said, I think a number in the $130-140 Million range is fair due to Daniels potentially building on the season he had and being worth even more than that.

Daniels owned a league-best 3.01 steals per game this past season, the first player to average over 3.0 steals per game since Alvin Robertson in 1990-91. He swiped 229 total steals, the most thefts in a single season in franchise history and the most by any player in the NBA since 1996 Defensive Player of the Year Gary Payton (231, 1995-96). The third-year guard owned 98 more steals than the next closest player (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 131), marking the largest gap between No. 1 and No. 2 in NBA history. He finished the season with a steal-to-foul ratio of 1.31 (229 steals to 175 fouls), the ninth-best steal-to-foul ratio since 1973-74 and the best by any player in the league since Allen Iverson in 2002-03 (1.51).

Behind Daniels’ defensive presence, the Hawks improved their defensive rating from 118.4 in 2023-24 (27th in NBA) to 114.8 (18th in NBA), per NBA.com/Stats, a 3.6 improvement and the sixth-best improvement by any team this past season. Atlanta recorded 48 games with 10-or-more steals this past season, the most such games by any team in the NBA and the second-most such games in a single season in franchise history (1993-94, 56).

At 22 years and six days, the two-time Defensive Player of the Month recipient became the youngest player in the NBA since at least 1973-74 to tally at least 200 steals in a single season, surpassing Magic Johnson in 1981-82 (22 years, 240 days). In addition to his league-best 229 steals, Daniels also recorded 55 blocks, leading the entire league with a total of 284 stocks (steals + blocks). He became the first guard to lead the NBA in total stocks since 1988 Defensive Player of the Year Michael Jordan (390, 1987-88).

Daniels became the first player in the NBA to tally 200+ steals and 50+ blocks in a single season since Scottie Pippen in 1994-95, and just the seventh player in the NBA to do so since 1973-74, joining Hall-of-Famers Clyde Drexler (3x), Michael Jordan (6x), Hakeem Olajuwon and Pippen (3x), as well as Ron Harper and Alvin Robertson.

The 6-7 guard recorded a league-best 444 total deflections during the 2024-25 campaign, the most deflections by any player since the NBA began tracking the statistic in 2015-16 and 167 more deflections than the next closest player this season (Keon Ellis: 277). Daniels owned an NBA-best 297 total stops (steals + blocks + offensive fouls drawn) and recovered 81 loose balls, the second-most by any player in the league this past season.

The Hawks have until Monday at 6:00 p.m. ET to agree to an extension with Daniels. Will it get done?

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