Hawks' Dyson Daniels strengthens case for two awards with historic feat

Daniels' 89 steals through the first 28 games are the most by any player since Nate McMillan in 1993. If the "Great Barrier Thief" can record another 213 steals from the Hawks' remaining 52 games, he will break the record set by Alvin Robertson in 1985-86. 

Robertson (301), Don Buse (281) and Micheal Ray Richardson (265) are atop the leaderboard for most steals in a season. It's a safe bet that Daniels will break into the top three at his current pace of 3.2 steals per game. 

As has been a trend all season, Daniels has suffocated the opponent's best scorer with his lockdown defense. In the 8:22 that he guarded Anthony Edwards on Monday, Daniels kept the Timberwolves star to 3-of-10 shooting besides picking his pocket several times. 

Daniels similarly wreaked havoc on Jalen Brunson (6-of-17), Donovan Mitchell (4-of-14), Kyrie Irving (2-of-8) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (4-of-11) while matching up with those All-Star guards earlier this season.

In large part due to Daniels, the Hawks are ranked a respectable No. 18 on defense this season after finishing 27th a year before. Atlanta has been a bottom-10 defense in nearly every season of the Trae Young era. 

Daniels — October and November's Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month — is in a three-way battle with the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama and Thunder's Luguentz Dort for the Defensive Player of the Year honor. 

He is also a leading candidate for Most Improved Player of the Year, having considerably upped his points (5.8 to 13.0), rebounds (3.9 to 5.0), assists (2.7 to 3.5) and steals (1.4 to 3.2) from last season. Incidentally, his teammate Jalen Johnson is also a candidate for the award.