{"id":628726,"date":"2026-04-24T22:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T22:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628726\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T22:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T22:20:11","slug":"younger-daniels-brother-puts-dash-through-2026-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628726\/","title":{"rendered":"Younger Daniels brother puts ‘Dash’ through 2026 draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBL Next Star Dash Daniels delays NBA Draft, focusing on NBL and Boomers development<\/p>\n

NBL Next Star and Australian Boomers guard Dash Daniels<\/a> is not entering the 2026 NBA Draft, @DraftExpress<\/a>\u2018s Jonathan Givony<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Daniels, 18, is the younger brother of Atlanta Hawks<\/a> point guard Dyson<\/a> and signed as an NBL Next Star as a 16-year-old on December 14, 2024.<\/p>\n

He has been touted as an NBA Draft pick in multiple mock drafts throughout his NBL career with Melbourne United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was as high as No.10 on Givony\u2019s June 27, 2025, Mock Draft for ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniels will likely be the youngest prospect in the 2026 draft class \u2013 turning 18 in mid-December \u2013 making it difficult to project how he’ll handle the rigours of the Australian NBL next season,\u201d Givony wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings many of the same strengths and weaknesses as his brother Dyson (a Hawks guard), but is bigger, stronger and longer at the same age, which won’t hurt his NBA projection.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar to his brother, he’s an outstanding defender and a work in progress as a ball handler, shooter and scorer, but he has a strong feel for the game, and plays with pace and unselfishness. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe appears to be making strides with his shooting, too, based on what he has shown this summer in the NBL1 league with the Sandringham Sabres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Melbourne United guard Dash Daniels warms up before an NBL clash against Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena. Photo: Paul Kane\/Getty ImagesDash Daniels \u2014 First NBL Season Breakdown for Melbourne United<\/p>\n

Season line: 35 games \u2502 501 minutes \u2502 143 points \u2502 83 rebounds \u2502 30 assists \u2502 24 steals \u2502 9 blocks \u2502 24 turnovers \u2502 337 SC<\/p>\n

Averages: 14.3 mins \u2502 4.1 pts \u2502 2.4 reb \u2502 0.9 ast \u2502 0.7 stl \u2502 0.3 blk \u2502 0.7 TO \u2502 9.6 SC<\/p>\n

Dash Daniels\u2019 first season was built on low-usage minutes, defensive activity and flashes of all-round impact rather than volume scoring. He played in 35 games, averaged just over 14 minutes, and had only one double-digit scoring game, but his best outings came when he filled multiple columns.<\/p>\n

Best Game<\/p>\n

September 25 was his most complete performance:
17.6 mins \u2502 9 pts \u2502 5 reb \u2502 3 ast \u2502 2 stl \u2502 60.0 FG% \u2502 100.0 FT% \u2502 24 SC<\/p>\n

That was his season-high score impact game, narrowly ahead of September 21, when he posted 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals in 20.1 minutes.<\/p>\n

Season Highs\u200dMinutes: 24.0 \u2014 Jan 25\u200dPoints: 14 \u2014 Sep 21\u200dRebounds: 5 \u2014 five times\u200dAssists: 3 \u2014 Sep 25, Nov 21\u200dSteals: 3 \u2014 Mar 7\u200dBlocks: 1 \u2014 nine times
Month-by-Month Trend<\/p>\n

September: 3 games \u2502 8.3 pts, 4.0 reb, 1.3 stl
Best scoring month. He opened with his strongest offensive stretch.<\/p>\n

October: 6 games \u2502 4.3 pts, 3.2 reb, 1.5 ast
Most balanced month. Rebounding and defensive activity held up.<\/p>\n

November: 6 games \u2502 5.7 pts, 2.2 reb
Scoring returned in bursts, including two nine-point games.<\/p>\n

December: 7 games \u2502 3.7 pts, 1.1 reb
Minutes dipped and production flattened.<\/p>\n

January: 7 games \u2502 2.6 pts, 2.1 reb
Lower scoring, but better ball security \u2014 only one turnover across seven games.<\/p>\n

February: 4 games \u2502 2.5 pts, 2.5 reb
Role remained limited.<\/p>\n

March: 2 games \u2502 2.0 pts, 3.0 reb, 1.5 stl
Finished with defensive activity, including three steals on Mar 7.<\/p>\n

Daniels scored in 28 of 35 games, reached five-plus points 14 times, and had five-plus rebounds five times. His best value came as a connector: rebounding from the guard\/wing spot, creating deflections, and keeping turnovers low.<\/p>\n

The most encouraging number was ball security. He had 18 games without a turnover, and averaged fewer than one turnover per game despite playing across the full season.<\/p>\n

The scoring was still inconsistent. He had seven scoreless games and only one game above nine points, so the next step is converting activity minutes into steadier offensive output.<\/p>\n

\"\"Australian Boomers guard Dash Daniels. Photo: FIBA.com\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Australian Boomers Career<\/p>\n

2 tournaments \u2502 8 games<\/p>\n

Career Average: 1.7 pts \u2502 1.3 reb \u2502 0.4 ast \u2502 1.5 EFF<\/p>\n

Tournament Breakdown<\/p>\n

2027 \u2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers
2 games \u2502 0.0 pts \u2502 1.5 reb \u2502 0.0 ast \u2502 0.5 EFF<\/p>\n

2025 \u2014 FIBA Asia Cup
6 games \u2502 2.3 pts \u2502 1.2 reb \u2502 0.5 ast \u2502 1.8 EFF<\/p>\n

Daniels\u2019 senior minutes have been limited and role-specific. He hasn\u2019t been asked to score \u2014 instead, his impact has come through defensive possessions, rebounding from the perimeter, and low-mistake play. His numbers are low across the board, but that reflects opportunity, not necessarily capability. This is a development phase within the Boomers structure, not a finished product.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dash Daniels representing Australia at the junior level. Photo: FIBA.comAustralian Junior Career<\/p>\n

2022 \u2014 FIBA U15 Oceania Championship: \ud83e\udd47 1st
2023 \u2014 FIBA U16 Asian Championship: \ud83e\udd47 1st
2024 \u2014 FIBA U18 Asia Cup: \ud83e\udd47 1st
2025 \u2014 FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup: 6th
2024 \u2014 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup: 15th<\/p>\n

Daniels has been part of three gold medal-winning Australian teams at youth level.<\/p>\n

Oceania + Asia dominance: Australia controlled these tournaments, and Daniels was part of that core.World Cup results (U17, U19): More mixed \u2014 reflecting tougher global competition and role adjustments.2025 \u2014 BWB Global Camp (Washington Wizards)Selected into a global NBA pathway programRecognised as both All-Star and Defensive MVP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBL Next Star Dash Daniels delays NBA Draft, focusing on NBL and Boomers development NBL Next Star and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-628726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}