Dyson Daniels’ grand heist: Inside how he became the NBA's deflections king

NEW YORK Josh Giddey should have known better.

Never turn your back on a friend.

As the Chicago Bulls guard walked across midcourt to open the second half of an early season matchup with the Hawks , his childhood friend, Dyson Daniels , was standing right in his face.

Giddey is used to this.

He calls Daniels his sparring partner, spending last summer in Melbourne playing one-on-one together until their sneakers wore out.

As kids growing up in Australia, this was how they filled their days, hounding each other until they were good enough to be NBA lottery picks.

Advertisement Giddey has played against Daniels far more than anyone else in the NBA and understands that Daniels is too conniving for even his closest friends.

The problem that he has, as does everyone across the league, is he doesnt see it coming.

As Giddey waltzed forward to set up the play, Daniels quickly peeked over his left shoulder, looking for a screen from one of Giddeys teammates.

There was nobody there.

A less studious defender might wonder what that means and search for the answer behind his back.

But Daniels had done his homework.

That absence of a screener on this particular Bulls action meant the cutter was going the opposite direction.

So he was looking for a subtle clue to explain what was happening behind him.

When Giddey went from looking forward to down at the ball, there it was.

A spin move was coming.

Daniels could see it in his eyes.

Eyes is the biggest seller, Daniels told The Athletic.

Some people are good at selling the eyes, but most people look where theyre passing the ball.

If you can read the eyes, you can read where the ball is going.

Then its just about being close enough to get deflections.

Daniels has seen Giddey make this spin move thousands of times.

He remembered how Giddey retracts that left hand he uses to shield defenders away, cupping the ball down by his hip pocket while pirouetting the other way.

Thats when it was time for Daniels to pull down the ski mask and snatch his prize.

Three seconds later, Daniels was laying the ball in as Giddey helplessly chased from behind.

The Great Barrier Thief had struck again.

NBA steals leader Dyson Daniels doing Dyson Daniels things pic.twitter.com/ManXILT8WW Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 10, 2024 I dont know how it works! Giddey said with a laugh.

I told him, Dont do that again.

He said, Dont turn your back.

When the Hawks acquired Daniels from the New Orleans Pelicans as part of a package for Dejounte Murray over the summer, they knew he was already defending this way in a smaller role and figured he could eventually blossom into an All-Defensive player if given the chance.

Advertisement He arrived way ahead of schedule.

Dyson is a menace and Im excited he gets to show that more this year, said Larry Nance Jr.

, Daniels longtime teammate who arrived in the same trade and coined the iconic Great Barrier Thief nickname.

Deep wing and guards situation in New Orleans, then he comes here and gets put in a situation where he can grow and expand and make mistakes without having another player breathing down your neck for minutes.

That week was when the rest of the league figured out what Giddey already knew: The 21-year-old Daniels is already one of the best defenders in the NBA.

The Hawks guard recorded at least six steals in four games in a row, earning the first-ever Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month award for October and November.

Victor Wembanyama who won that same monthly award for the Western Conference has been the presumptive Defensive Player of the Year favorite because of how he disrupts an offenses airspace.

But Daniels is doing something comparable down at ground level.

Daniels has 184 deflections on the season as of Dec.

26, 72 ahead of DeAaron Fox in second place despite playing 174 fewer minutes.

There are 152 players within that same gap after Fox.

In the nine seasons the NBA has tracked deflections, no player has averaged more than 4.2 a game.

Daniels is at 6.6.

Hes on track to be the first player since Allen Iverson in 2002-03 to snatch 225 steals.

Since the pace-and-space era started to take shape about a decade ago, nobody has even sniffed 200.

He is beyond an outlier.

He is the evolution of a lineage of robber barons that dates to a young Chris Paul and, before him, players such as Gary Payton and Alvin Robertson.

While Daniels has a way to go before he reaches their level, he is precocious in the dark arts of defensive manipulation that made them so special.

Advertisement So how does he do it? Being able to time my jump and get my hands out, I bait them into those passes where I know where theyre going, he said.

Its just reading the game, reading the pass, reading the eyes.

We meticulously dissect an offensive players handles and footwork to diagnose how they broke someones ankles.

But generational defenders play games, too, manipulating ballhandlers as much as they try to stay in front of them.

Daniels weapons of choice are his hands, which he wields to cut through the blur of basketball to be in the right place at the right time.

He spends his down time DJing, studying the likes of Tiesto and Fisher to create a rhythmic tempo, then disrupt it for dramatic effect.

His hands work the same way on the basketball court.

But Daniels doesnt rack up deflections just because of his quick paws.

Its how he hides them in plain sight.

Young players are traditionally taught to defend with their arms out to their sides, forming a wall to intimidate a passer.

You dont see that much in the NBA (unless teams are playing zone), but most defenders will still put one hand low in the passing pocket and another high.

Even that creates a map for the passer to chart, though.

Thats why Daniels keeps his hands as neutral and unassuming as possible for most of the possession, making it harder for the offensive player to recognize the danger of a certain pass or dribble.

If they dont see your hands, thats where theyre gonna pass it, he said.

If Daniels knows a passer likes to throw skip passes over the top, he keeps his hands down low to make them think the window is open before he quickly pounces.

His shining example came when he helped spark a near-comeback in Detroit.

As he chased budding Pistons star Cade Cunningham over a labyrinth of screens, Daniels eased off slightly as they entered the paint.

He figured Cunningham would pass back over his head to a roller, so he shot his hand up at the last second and knocked the ball out of the air.

I just baited him into it a little bit, Daniels said.

That was my favorite one.

Thats just one trick Daniels uses.

Giddey noticed that any time a player turned his back to Daniels, the Hawks guard would jab around their blind side to deflect the ball with striking accuracy.

Daniels makes a conventional means of ball protection seem useless.

Hes got those things you cant teach and defense is a very hard thing to learn, Giddey said.

You either got it or you dont.

Hes one of those guys that has it.

Advertisement One solution star players are actively trying is to get in front of Daniels and bait him into committing fouls early in the first quarter.

In particular, Daniels noticed how the All-Star lead ballhandlers for the Hawks two NBA Cup knockout-round opponents Jalen Brunson and Damian Lillard dove deep into their bag of foul-baiting tricks in the opening minutes of the game.

Theyre trying to get some early fouls on me so I cant be as aggressive.

Daniels said.

Early in the quarterfinal matchup at Madison Square Garden, Brunson had Daniels figured out.

Daniels was chasing the Knicks guard over screens, decidedly playing from behind.

That means he has to hit the gas to get back on Brunsons inside hip, taking away a direct route to the basket.

But a savvy guard like Brunson knows how to slide into that path and then hit the brakes with control so that Daniels crashes into him.

I dont want to be in that position of being behind Brunson, Daniels said.

I want to be on his hip or I want to be in front of him.

So watch how he adjusted to get himself out of that trailing situation.

He got me on that (first) one, so I knew that if I could get under more screens and stay in front of him to contest his 3, then I was gonna be in good shape, Daniels said.

But there were a few times where he would come off a down screen and turn the corner and I was trailing him, so I started to go under more screens and late contest stuff.

Its hard to play anyone from behind and Brunsons a smart guy.

But I felt I did a pretty good job the rest of the game.

To do this, Daniels leaned into one of his other elite defensive skills.

He has the ability to stay upright while guarding in front of the ball without losing balance, then bend over while trailing players to make an impact on the ball.

Many of his deflections come by sticking his hand into dribble handoffs, somehow reaching into the cookie jar without getting caught.

These little disruptions keep his man out of rhythm, which allows him to recover and lock up guys like Lillard in ways few defenders can.

Versatility sells it short, to be honest with you.

Hes not only versatile, but hes got a versatile mind and that allows him to impact the game in a lot of ways, Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

Hes capable physically, but hes also capable of seeing plays and anticipating to put himself in the right position.

Advertisement The elasticity that makes Daniels nearly impossible to shake out of an action has allowed the Hawks to execute more pick-and-roll coverages than in years past.

His ballhawking has revived Clint Capela s ability to effectively contain the ball in drop coverage.

Hes covered up Trae Young s size deficiencies when the latter executes a hard show before retreating back to his man.

The lineup of Young, Daniels, DeAndre Hunter, Jalen Johnson and Capela ranks fifth in the NBA in turnover percentage forced at 20.1 percent, as of Dec.

26 according to Cleaning the Glass.

The Hawks dealt Murray their second star hoping they got enough assets in return to make the risk worthwhile.

They ended up getting the backcourt mate they always hoped to pair with Young, their franchise player.

I think the trade for him was a massive blessing in disguise.

Well, not even in disguise, Giddey said.

Hes just had the opportunity to flourish and show his true colors.

Hes one of the best defenders in the world.

Hes always had that defensive ability and Im glad its on full display for everyone to see.

Could that Defensive Player of the Month honor a made-up award, in Daniels mind be a precursor for a larger one in the future? Maybe Im biased because were very close, but in my opinion, hes the runaway for Defensive Player of the Year.

Nobodys done what hes doing.

Maybe Michael Jordan has, Giddey said.

But deflection-wise, steal-wise, hes having to guard the best player every night.

People will say its Wemby and rightfully so.

Hes been an incredible defender.

But I think what Dys is doing hasnt really been seen before.

(Top photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images).

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