On April 30, the NBA announced that Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels was the winner of the George Mikan Trophy as the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Improved Player. Daniels received 44 first-place votes and finished atop the voting results by a fairly comfortable margin over Clippers center Ivica Zubac and Pistons wing Cade Cunningham.
Just moments after winning the award, Daniels spoke to a group of media members from Atlanta via Zoom conference, simply because he is spending time in his native Australia following the season. Daniels, who is just 22 years old, spoke with the poise and reflection of a veteran player, and he also made headlines with one particular quote about his future.
“I really believe I could win this award again,” Daniels shared. “I’ve got so much more left in me. Next year, it’s all about taking that next step and setting new goals. I want to be an All-Star in this league, and I want to be a championship player.”
Dyson Daniels would be the first one to ever win Most Improved Player twice
It stands to reason that it would be difficult for anyone to win Most Improved Player twice in a career and, to date, it has never been done. However, Daniels does perhaps have a clearer potential path than most would because his 2024-25 candidacy was tied to overall growth and defensive acumen, rather than a massive jump in offensive counting stats.
Beyond the logistics, Hawks fans can certainly be encouraged by Daniels' drive to keep improving and, the last time he released a public-facing goal, it went pretty well. At Media Day before the 2024-25 season, Daniels said one of his goals was to be named First-Team All Defense, and barring a shock, he is line to do just that in his third season overall and first season as a full-time starter.
In this space, it was previously outlined that there clear areas for Daniels to continue his ascent as a player, with the focus largely on his offensive development. Daniels was asked about what he'd like to work on and develop this summer, and he didn't shy away from his biggest question mark.
"The obvious one is shooting. Being able to become a more consistent shooter, being able to shoot off the dribble, being able to come off pin downs and make catch-and-shoot shots," said Daniels. "The league is trending toward everyone having to be able to shoot to be out there on the floor."
To his credit, Daniels did make a jump as a shooter this season, converting 34.0 percent of more than 200 3-point attempts in 76 games. Still, shooting is the biggest single barrier to Daniels becoming something closer to a star-level overall player, and he subtly noted that he is often something of a hiding spot for weaker opposing defenders. In fact, Daniels set for another goal of "having to be guarded by the second-best defender on the team," with the implication that teammate and All-Star guard Trae Young would receive the most attention.
Elias Sports released a statistical nugget that was revelatory on just how much Daniels improved, even beyond his clear leap to elite status on defense. Daniels became only the third player in NBA history (minimum 50 games played) to have improvements of at least +8.0 points per game, +2.0 rebounds per game, +1.5 assists per game, and +1.5 steals per game from one season to the next.
While that kind of improvement cannot be assumed on an annual basis, it might be required for Daniels to actually contend for, much less win, another MIP award. More practically, Daniels does know there are more gains to make, and given his third-season leap, the future appears very bright for both player and team.