3 minute read
Teenage guard Dyson Daniels is positioned to become the latest Australian basketball talent to attract big interest at the NBA Draft this week.
Australian teenager Dyson Daniels is firming as a possible top-10 pick in this week's NBA Draft and says he's ready to make an immediate impact.
With his playmaking and defensive skills, the 19-year-old guard from Bendigo stormed into NBA calculations during his lone season with G-League development team Ignite after graduating from Canberra's NBA Academy.
Invited among a select few to attend the Draft function in New York on Friday (AEDT), Daniels has gained traction with analysts after impressing in the draft combine and during work-outs with seven different franchises.
"There are so many roles I can play in a team," Daniels said.
"My best NBA-ready skill is my defence and being able to step on the floor and guard the best player, use my size, my lateral quickness to be able to cause trouble for players.
"I can definitely step on the floor and impact straight away.
"Whatever a team needs - whether it be a point guard or a backup, playing off the ball - I feel like there is no real weakness where you can say 'put him here and he won't be as good'."
Plucking an Australian from the pile should hold no fear for aspirational NBA teams after Josh Giddey was taken by Oklahoma City with the sixth pick last year.
He broke records as the youngest man to notch an NBA triple-double and is now the bright young hope of the rebuilding franchise, while Josh Green (No.18 in 2020) has become a piece of the Dallas Mavericks' main rotation.
Ben Simmons (No.1 in 2016) and Dante Exum (No.5 in 2014) followed Andrew Bogut's (No.1 in 2004) lead.
Daniels, a 203cm guard, has been wined and dined by NBA executives in the lead-up to the draft and understands what he's on the cusp of.
"I'm sure it's going to be a big step up; the pace is going to be up and down, big crowds, I'm just looking forward to everything about the NBA game," he said.
"It was my dream to play in the NBA and I'm right there on the doorstep now so I'm taking it all in."
