Dyson Daniels
Daniels is the starting wing on a Hawks team that is keeping last season's second-half five, and he is expected to produce through defense, rebounding and playmaking more than scoring.
Role
Per the AJC (about six days ago), the Hawks will open with last season's second-half starters: CJ McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu. A Peachtree Hoops game thread from about a day ago lists the same five, though its page also carries an Oct. 12 preseason label. Through three regular-season games, Fox Sports and ESPN's fantasy blurb have him at 29.0 minutes per game, with 16.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 4.3 steals. One Fox blurb says he sat out the second half of the opener with most of the starters. Aaron Wiggins and Luguentz Dort are the wings listed behind him on ESPN's depth chart. I have not confirmed whether that chart is current, and its snippet looked stale. The wire note says he rested for a preseason game, and I found nothing suggesting a regular-season rest plan or back-to-back policy.
The three-guard starting unit finished 21-9 over the last 30 games of last season, and the AJC says the starting five ranked in the 90th percentile in efficiency differential per Cleaning the Glass. Daniels himself says the trio meshes well. Hawks president Onsi Saleh called him "one of the most impactful players in the NBA" and an all-world defender. Fox's early-season blurb points to his steals, rebounding and three-point shooting as the source of his value.
The early numbers are only three games. They include a 61.8 percent shooting mark, and Fox notes he could not sustain his opening defensive pace. He struggled from three and the free-throw line in the opener and sat the second half. Three starting guards limit his scoring and ball-handling share. Dort and Wiggins sit behind him on the depth chart, and Peachtree Hoops writers floated Dort as a ball-handling alternative in the starting five.
Where analysts split
The disagreement is mild and is about lineup construction, not his job: whether the Hawks start McCollum or a more defensive group with Dort, and who closes games. Peachtree Hoops staff split on this in a preseason roundtable. Garrett's closing five has Daniels and Dort but not McCollum, while Wes would start Daniels and Dort but keep McCollum as the closer. Coverage I found for the regular season shows Daniels starting.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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