229: Daniels finishes all-time top 20 for steals

• Dyson Daniels led the NBA in steals per game with 3.01 in the regular season
• Daniels finished equal 20th all-time for single season
• Dyson Daniels has the second most steals in almost 30 years

Australian guard Dyson Daniels has the most steals — 229 — this Millennium and has finished equal 20th for steals in a single season.

He tied Johnny Moore's mark in the 1984-85 season.

Daniels, who just turned 22, is the first player since Scottie Pippen 30 YEARS AGO to have 200+ steals and 50 blocks in a single NBA season.

Daniels had 229 steals in 76 games for the 40-42 Atlanta Hawks.

Dyson Daniels Case of NBA Defensive Player of the Year

• He has the most steals in the 21st century with 226
• He has the most steals since Gary "The Glove" Payton (231) in 1995-96.
• He is 36th player in NBA history to have 200+ steals in a season.
• ‍He is the youngest player in NBA history to have more than 200 steals. The next youngest ... Magic Johnson in 1981-82.
• He has the most steals in an NBA season by and Australian.
• He had eight steals against Minnesota on Christmas Eve, 2024.
• He has 15 games this season with five or more steals. The next closest is just four.
• He is ranked 12th in NBA history for most six-steal games in a single season with seven.
• He has had seven steals in a game three times.
• He has more steals in a single season than any player since the start of the 2019-20 NBA season.

To climb into the Top 10 all-time, he needed 244 steals to eclipse Michael Ray Richardson in 10th with 243 in the 1984-85 season, John Stockton is 9th with 244 in the 1991-92 season, 1986 Defensive Player of the Year Alvin Robertson is 8th with 246 in 1990-91 and Michael Jordan in 7th with 259 in the 1987-88 season.

Daniels is just one six-steal game behind Michael Jordan in 1987-88 and 1990-91, Fat Lever in 1988-89 and Nate McMillan in 1993-94.

Alvin Robertson, who holds the record for the most steals in a single season with 301 in 1985-86 season when he won the Defensive Player of the Year award, holds the record with 13 in the 1986-97 season and 12 in '85-86.

Daniels was involved in a significant trade that sent him to the Atlanta Hawks from the New Orleans Pelicans, where he continues to develop and contribute as a key piece of their young core. On 6 July 2024, Daniels, along with EJ Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., and Cody Zeller (via sign-and-trade), plus a 2025 first-round pick (via Lakers) as well as a conditional 2027 first-round pick were traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for veteran Dejounte Murray.

Daniels, drafted 8th overall by the Pelicans in 2022, found his way to Atlanta where he has flourished into a key player for the Hawks. Standing at an impressive 2.01 metres and weighing 90 kilograms, he possesses the physical attributes to compete at the highest level.