Dyson Daniels steals his way to Most Improved Player Award

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 player who displayed the most improvement. All of the third-year guard's numbers went way up with the Hawks, both his totals and his percentages.

His scoring went from 5.8 points to 14.1, his rebounds from 3.9 to 5.9, his assists from 2.7 to 4.4 and his steals went from 1.4 to a league-leading three per game. Not only did he lead the NBA in steals, he was the first qualifying player to average three steals again since Alvin Robertson in 1990-91.

Daniels had a case to be named Defensive Player of the Year this season as well, due to how disruptive his defense has been and how far ahead of the pack he is. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was second in steals with 131. Daniels had nearly 100 more than that, finishing with 229.

It's a similar story when it comes to deflections. Daniels led the NBA with 443 deflections. The next closest player was Keon Ellis with 272, meaning Daniels had 63 percent more deflections than his closest competition.

While the defense alone showed tremendous improvement, Daniels also shot nearly 50 percent from the field and upped his three-point percentage from 31 percent to 34 percent and sank 100 more three-pointers.

The Pelicans drafted Daniels with the No. 8 pick in the 2022 draft, but he simply didn't get opportunities in New Orleans. Given a chance to thrive in Atlanta, he's looking like a foundational piece for their future, alongside Jalen Johnson and top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher. And since Daniels only turned 22 in March, this season likely won't be the end of his improvement.