5 NBA players who could be the next Dyson Daniels

Due to the sheer scale of international soccer, there are regularly not enough opportunities for developing players on good teams. The leagues solved this problem by creating an elaborate loan system, which allowed young players to play on less notable teams against still substantial competition.

In the Premier League alone, there are examples of all-time greats who only broke through because of this system. Kyle Walker doesn’t become who he is today without his time at Aston Villa. Harry Kane is not a top player in England’s history without his time in the Championship with Leicester. Where would Arsenal be without the loan deal with Martin Ødegaard?

Unfortunately for the NBA, even through years and years of gradually raising the talent level in the G League — and the staggering rise of general skill across basketball — the quality of play is still not high enough to be considered close to the NBA level. There is a place for developing G League talent (shout out to reigning Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid), but that’s not what we’re talking about today.

Dyson Daniels has been the standout surprise of the first quarter of this NBA season. He was pigeonholed as the functional backup point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans, a role that he was always clearly too good for, before being traded to the Hawks this offseason. Since joining Atlanta, the Great Barrier Thief has embraced not only a top-five nickname in the NBA, but has ascended to being one of the most impactful non-big defenders in the league.

The trade has enabled Daniels to become a basketball octopus, somehow connecting with stabbing limb after stabbing limb in both full and halfcourt defensive situations. He is experiencing the easiest offensive responsibility of his career alongside Trae Young and Jalen Johnson, and can focus on denying whole quarters of the court at any time.

This situation and the resulting role are the best-case scenario, one that Daniels would never have been able to approach for a New Orleans team that did not need him to be any more than a low-usage role player due to the plethora of other talented defensive options he was stuck behind.

The developmental tasks that teams ask of these players will always be supplemental actions to help their stars, but little beyond that. Shoot less often and more efficiently. Play better defense. Move more in transition. For players like Daniels, these constraints can be a straightjacket on their development.

But because suggesting expansion has been done and discussing loan deals in basketball may be a conversation that is still at least five years away, let’s find our next big surprise. Here are some players who could be the next candidate for a Daniels-type breakout if they found a new home or received a bigger role.

Jabari Smith Jr.

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There was a time when people were convinced that Smith was going to be drafted first over the eventual selection of Paolo Banchero. At Auburn, Smith paired with Walker Kessler to create an elite interior defensive pairing, and despite a failed run in the tournament, Smith did eventually go third overall to the Houston Rockets. But while it’s weird to put a top-three overall pick in this category, as that echelon of players are typically empowered, Smith has taken a back seat in a crowded Rockets rotation.

The ding on Smith as an offensive player has largely been what can only be described as a lack of wiggle. Jabari has lacked the flexibility, strength, or handle to be a self-creator even off close-outs, and the face-up game that made him so enticing as a high post option has all but evaporated.

Smith is now just a startable option, sadly uninspiring as a top-three pick. However, the frequent pre-draft comparisons to Rashard Lewis can still be seen if you squint.

Rashard was not the top pick that Jabari was, but the second stop in Lewis’ career was in a system that maximized him and used him to completely change the path of modern basketball (I will stand by the fact that the three-point revolution started with the Dwight/Van Gundy Magic, not the Steph Warriors).

Especially with how many playable pieces the Rockets have, an eventual consolidation trade seems not just imminent, but unavoidable. Smith finding his way alongside a screen-setting center in an offense that already has rim pressure but needs more willing movement and shooting at the elbow and from distance could be the environment and shot diet he could flourish with. His defense certainly won’t hurt, either, and if he can regain his form as a weak-side rim protector, we may really have something here.

Teams that should have interest: Washington Wizards, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings

Nickeil Alexander-Walker

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When Nickeil Alexander-Walker showed up in Minnesota, he was already a reclamation project. The former point guard had failed to impress in (shocking) New Orleans before being dumped in Utah and eventually being thrown into a D’Angelo Russell — Mike Conley swap that has somehow aged even better for the team getting the older guard.

It became clear early in NAW’s career as a Timberwolf that there was something there, just not as a point guard. Nickeil was at his best as a wing, harassing guards on defense and patrolling the perimeter on offense. He’s not the slippery creator that his more famous cousin is, nor does his length pose the same threat it did at Virginia Tech, but he is almost inevitably always in the right place at the right time, whether by instinct or his sheer volume of preparedness.

Unfortunately, due to the roster constrictions of a mismatched Minnesota bench unit, Nickeil has been playing some point guard again. It has not been going great.

And yet, despite playing out of position, there are nights when NAW is the Wolves’ second-best player. He does everything that every fan loves and it always feels like when Anthony Edwards gets going, NAW is the one to pull the starter cord on the chainsaw that is an Ant takeover.

The Wolves were forced to trade Karl-Anthony Towns due to financial constraints and stand to enter the summer with three notable free agents in Julius Randle, Naz Reid, and Alexander-Walker all demanding sizable raises. Unfortunately for a Minnesota team that needs its tone setters, they may need to trade one or simply see him walk in the summer. Teams in need of guard defense and connective playmaking should try and swipe him if they can.

Teams that should have interest: Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers

Nic Claxton

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Nicolas Claxton is the first of these players to already be on a rebuilding team that would — at least theoretically — already want him to do more, and that’s not the only difference between him and the other options in this list. There is not much left to see from a fully unleashed version of Claxton on an individual scale, but he could completely transform an average team’s defense into an elite unit in the right situation.

We are just under one year removed from the deadline day deals that took the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals. The trades for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington brought another run-and-dunk center anchoring the paint and an additional defensive option that could play either forward spots in supersized or more traditional lineups to the Mavericks, both dimensions they desperately needed.

I think Claxton can be both of those players in one for some contender.

We only saw who he can be very shortly with the KD-era Nets. Clax was not yet the player he is today during that 2021 season that saw Brooklyn come up one toe short, and there would be no more chances to prove anything on a high-level contender that ceased to exist months later.

However, Claxton can be a budget Bam Adebayo, a center who can defend on the perimeter in a way most centers fail to do, without yielding on the interior. There are tons of teams who could use that player to take a bad defense to functionally great.

Teams that should have interest: Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks

New Orleans Pelicans Wings (Herb Jones, Trey Murphy)

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Initially, this was going to be a spot to talk about Andrew Nembhard, who is stuck in a rapidly sinking Pacers team that will never give him the opportunity to be a lead ball handler, or Ricky Council IV, who is being buried on a crumbling Sixers team that should be using him more, but instead, we’re going back to New Orleans.

This season, just like many others in the Big Easy, has already fallen off the rails. In the same way that a constantly injured team led to the first tastes of Dyson Daniels as a starter, the same has happened for – oh wait, no, it hasn’t. Trey Murphy and Herb Jones were hurt too. In the words of our titular Pelicans escapee…

Jones returned recently, only to see Murphy back on the injury report with a knee contusion. Both players are absolutely miscast in a team that struggles to have any sense of consistency in role or responsibility with the constant missed time from all of its players.

Trey Murphy is one of my favorite role players in the NBA. His shooting from his size, especially the speed of his release, makes him a joy to watch racing around screens. But, I can’t help but wonder if there’s some Hedo Turkoglu to him.

Despite making an All-Rookie team, Hedo was prevented from playing a large role until he got to Orlando (look at that, we’re back to the SVG Magic) where he became the face of the three-point shooting wing for years to come.

Jones is already an elite connective defensive piece and an excellent three-point shooter. Any contender would love to have him to impede any opposing star under 6’10. There is no “teams of note section” here because everyone, and I mean everyone, would want him.

The Pelicans are gluttons for talent. They consume as much as anyone possibly can and showcase glimpses of it, but it’s hard not to see their roster full of Dyson Danielses and feel some sadness.

Teams in the midst of a rebuild, or even those just leaving one, tend to hoard their young players, being more willing to prevent them from playing than to see them thrive somewhere else. And unfortunately for NBA fans, no team has done this more than the Pelicans. When they traded Anthony Davis to the Lakers and Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans, they built a stockpile of draft picks that they then buried.

Dyson Daniels is a success story in more ways than one, then. He got out. Here’s hoping the other names on this list can too.