Hawks' Dyson Daniels Wins 2024-25 NBA Most Improved Player of the Year Award

Nobody made more strides during the 2024-25 season in the eyes of NBA awards voters than Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks.

Daniels was named the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year on Wednesday and defeated fellow finalists Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons and Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers in the process.

Despite Daniels' win, Cunningham established himself as one of the contenders early in the season. While the Pistons star was already the face of the franchise, he took a notable jump in his fourth campaign.

That's not to say the No. 1 pick of the 2021 NBA draft wasn't impressive in 2023-24.

He averaged 22.7 points, 7.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from deep last season. He appeared in 62 contests and looked the part of franchise cornerstone.

However, the Pistons finished with the worst record in the league at 14-68.

It was a much different story this season, and Cunningham's improvement has plenty to do with it.

The guard made the first All-Star Game of his career as he helped play Detroit into the playoffs. The franchise was among the worst in the league for the previous five seasons but finally took the strides it envisioned when it selected the Oklahoma State product with the No. 1 pick.

Cunningham averaged 26.1 points, 9.1 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from deep and went from good to great while competing for a playoff spot and this award.

However, he wasn't the only one in the Eastern Conference who helped their team compete while showing significant improvement.

Daniels went from a solid bench piece for the Hawks in 2023-24 to a significant starter who routinely stuffed the stat sheet. He averaged 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and a league-best 3.0 steals per game while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 34.0 percent from three-point range.

His defense in particular stood out, as he is among the best players in the league on that end of the floor who can effectively guard multiple positions.

While players such as Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat and Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers also took strides this season, the Eastern Conference wasn't the only place where notable improvement happened.

Zubac helped lead Los Angeles to the playoffs with career-high averages in points (16.8) and rebounds (12.6). Beyond the double-double numbers, he also anchored the Clippers' interior defense and battled with some of the best bigs in the league.

Zubac was already a solid player before this season and averaged double-digit scoring totals in the previous three campaigns as well.

Still, he was more important to the Clippers' overall playoff push than ever before in 2024-25 and proved as much with his statistical jump.

Ultimately, though, Daniels took home the award after his own excellent season.