Three weeks into his Atlanta Hawks tenure, Dyson Daniels is thriving with greater opportunity.

Average of 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs, including every game of the NBA Conference Finals & NBA Finals LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

Following his breakout Boomers campaign in the Olympics, the 21-year old has been Australia’s big NBA success story this season after being traded from the New Orleans Pelicans last July.

In New Orleans, the former Pick 8 saw inconsistent minutes as part of a deep, logjam rotation — arguably the deepest line-up in the NBA.

Though still effective in short bursts, Daniels required one, usually more, Pelicans guns to be sidelined to get proper time on the floor.

But the defensive stopper now finds himself in a much more favourable position to shine on Quin Snyder’s team — where he’s taking a leap.

Daniels has been unleashed in Atlanta’s starting line-up to form an exciting backourt pairing and ideal fit alongside Trae Young.

The breakout Aussie’s defensive prowess and length perfectly compliments the offensive dynamo that is Young.

Daniels’ size — a 6-foot-8 guard — and skill set also fits in perfectly with the rest of Atlanta’s athletic line-up including the likes of Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher.

There’s simply not many better spots for Daniels to be in amid a solid 4-5 start for the Hawks despite being disrupted by injury.

Charged with taking the best offensive player on the other team each game, it’s seen Daniels draw huge assignments on — and nullify — superstars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson.

“He competes on the ball and is obviously a leader in deflections in the NBA. Every defender is different, but I like the way he competed,” Brunson told NBA Australia after Thursday’s showdown with Daniels.

Not only does Daniels excel on the defensive end, he buys in as well as anyone, declaring in the pre-season he wants the challenge every game of trying to stop the NBA’s premier players.

“This guy is built for the NBA and he is built to play next to a ball dominant guard like Trae Young. He could not be in a better situation,” NBA shooting coach Marc Campbell said of Daniels on the Pick and Roll Podcast.

“Everything he does well is what they need to cover up for Trae Young. Also the things offensively (Daniels) does well are amplified by playing next to a guy like Trae Young.

“I couldn’t be happier he moved from a situation in New Orleans where he was kind of stuck and buried … he’s in a situation now where there’s nothing but open road in front of him, he has endless opportunity and his skill set plugs in perfectly there. They are going to love and appreciate the way he plays the game.

“He puts people in jail, he’s picking up full court. He is an absolute demon … it looks like misery to be guarded by him.

“He has a certain hunger … you can’t get a guy to care about defence like that. You can get people to care more, but you can’t get them to actually care the way he cares. His level of ‘I’m shutting this assignment down, this is personal to me’. I couldn’t be more in on Dyson as a player and I couldn’t be more in on the situation he is in.

“Give me all the Dyson stock, I want to be buy it, I want all of it and I want to hold it.”

The numbers partly tell the story of how disruptive Daniels has been on the defensive end in the area he contributes most.

Three weeks into the season, Daniels leads the NBA in deflections at 6.4 per game — over two more than the next best — and ranks second in steals per game (2.2).

And according to BBall Index, he sits third in the league in defensive playmaking, with only Alex Caruso and Victor Wembanyama ahead in that area. Furthermore, his current streak of recording at least one steal in seven-straight games is the second-longest such streak of his career, per Hawks PR.

Daniels said ahead of the season he wanted to make the first team All-Defence in what felt slightly audacious for such a young player.

But he’s well on his way to that if he can keep this level of production up, having been a constant menace for some of the NBA’s best scorers.

Furthermore, no opponent — whether ability or sheer size — or defensive situation ever feels too much or too overawing for him.

While the Hawks as a whole still have a ways to go defensively, Daniels is certainly helping their personality on that end of the floor.

Atlanta has improved from being ranked 16th in the NBA last season to second this season in steals per game — helping them run the floor and score more freely.

Locked on Hawks’ Brad Roland described Daniels as a defensive “wonder” after the team’s win over the Pelicans last week in the Aussie’s return to New Orleans — and return to the court after a two-game lay-off with a hip injury.

“It’s actually a reminder to Hawks fans panicking a bit about the defence, they have been better whenever they’ve had anything approaching a normal rotation and that includes Dyson,” he said.

“When they have at least one stopper — a la Dyson — they’re pretty solid defensively. They’re not going to be elite, but he is a huge difference maker and their most important player on that end of the floor.

“Looked good in his return.”

At the other end of the floor, Daniels has made improvements offensively.

Daniels is averaging career highs in points per game (11.6), field goal percentage (45.5) and 3-pointers made (1.1), with Snyder allowing him greater opportunity in a personal best 30 minutes to show off his offensive game.

It includes Daniels going off for a career-best 18 points against the Charlotte Hornets, while he also has more games with 15-plus points (three) through seven contests than in all of last season (two).

A great cutter who understands when to cut and is typically one step earlier, which is perhaps his greatest trait on the offensive end, Daniels is also a great finisher at the rim and moving with more confidence.

While his improved 3-point shot still needs work, his offensive game is clearly flourishing playing alongside Young, who constantly commands so much attention and can cause defences to collapse, in this Hawks system.

Even if Daniels isn’t as gifted on offence as on defence, he’s showing signs of development, which is all you want to see from a young player with so many years ahead of him.

His offensive shortcomings were most on show in a rough showing on that end in Atlanta’s win over New York — scoring six points on an inefficient 3-of-16 shooting from the field including missing all four of his attempts from beyond the arc.

“There were times in this game where the ugly version of Dyson’s theory comes into play. Even with the elite defence, his offence was a problem at times,” Locked on Hawks’ Roland said post-match.

“To be fair, he’s playing with Clint (Capela) sometimes and there’s a lack of shooting, but there were too many times where he was in between as an offensive player.

“Daniels just didn’t have the go-to thing to do — he was short humming floaters and a bit trigger happy on shots and not comfortable.

“I don’t know if he was overzealous or under confident, whatever it was it just didn’t look good offensively. I have no issue with him at all taking 16 shots … but it was not a great offensive game for Dyson, that’s fair to point out.”

All in all, Daniels is producing solid production across the board through seven games, averaging 11.6 points on 45.5 per cent shooting, 1.1 triples, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 0.7 blocks.

The former No. 8 pick is not only emerging as an important piece on this Hawks team, but a true defensive weapon causing legit problems for NBA sides.

Still only early days in the NBA season, there’s so much to like about this young gun in what’s shaping as a huge campaign ahead. Perhaps more importantly, he’s still just 21 years old in a seriously bright career on the rise.

The Hawks would be happy with how the trade worked out and that the Aussie is wearing their colours.

“(The trade) was unexpected. I came into the league here and this was home for me,” Daniels said after returning to New Orleans.

“They drafted me. They believed in me. Everyone was great to me. But this is a business; these things happen. So you’ve got to move on from it. I’m happy to be in Atlanta. I’m enjoying my opportunity there.”