NEW YORK -- Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, a 22-year-old Australian who led the NBA in steals, was voted the 2025 NBA Most Improved Player, the league announced on Wednesday.

And his career-best season figures put him among such NBA legends as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

Daniels became the second Hawks player to capture the award after Alan Henderson in 1998, taking 44 first-place votes in balloting by a global media panel. Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers was second and Detroit's Cade Cunningham third.

Nicknamed "The Great Barrier Thief" for his ball-swiping skills, Daniels was the runner-up for NBA Defensive Player of the Year after an NBA-best 229 steals this season -- the most steals in an NBA season since Gary Payton in 1995-96.

Daniels averaged 3.01 steals a game, the most steals per game in a season since Alvin Robertson in the 1990-91 campaign.

Daniels also led the NBA with 443 deflections for a league-best 5.8 a game.

In his third NBA season and first with Atlanta after a trade last July from New Orleans, Daniels averaged career highs of 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game and shot a career-best 49.3% from the floor and 34.0% from three-point range over 76 games.

Only four other players in NBA history had managed 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals a game in an NBA season -- Johnson, Jordan, Robertson and Michael Ray Richardson.

In boosting his averages by 8.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.62 steals a game from the 2023-2024 campaign, he improved his figures from one season to the next by amounts only matched by two other players (with at least 50 games) -- Richardson in 1978-79 to 1979-80 and Eric Murdock from 1991-92 to 1992-93.

© Agence France-Presse