Part of the rise in numbers was in part to a rise in minutes; he logged 2,603 this season, 530 more than his previous career best. That said, he earned those minutes — the 251 3-pointers, 277 free throws made, 40 per cent clip from 3-point range and 90 per cent clip from the foul line all were his best.

In the first year of a four-year, $62 million contract with the Hawks, Alexander-Walker started the season as a sixth man and moved into Atlanta’s starting lineup early with Trae Young dealing with a knee injury. His status as a full-time starter was solidified after a January trade sent Young to Washington for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

On March 16 of this year he scored a career-high 41 points in a 124-112 win over the Orlando Magic.

He competed for the Canadian senior national team in the 2020 FIBA men’s Olympic qualifying tournament, and then agreed to a three-year commitment to play with the Canadian senior men’s national team. He was named to Canada’s roster for th2 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Alexander-Walker’s win adds to the award haul for his family; his cousin is Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Hamilton, Ont., the reigning MVP and a finalist for MVP honours again this season.

Daniels said it’s more proof that the Hawks are elite in player development.

“I think Atlanta has a really good development pathway,” Daniels said Friday. “Guys come in here, get their work in, and (Hawks coach Quin Snyder is) really good at giving guys opportunities to play free and be themselves. That’s what Nickeil’s come in and done this year, and our offence has taken a huge jump.”

This was the fifth award to be announced by the NBA since the end of the regular season. The others:

* San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year, and the first to win the award in a unanimous vote.

* Gilgeous-Alexander nearly became the first unanimous winner of the Clutch Player of the Year award. He got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes.

* San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson topped Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. for Sixth Man of the Year, getting 63 first-place votes.

* Boston’s Derrick White won the Sportsmanship Award, edging out Indiana’s TJ McConnell. That award, unlike most others, is selected solely by active NBA players.

Other award announcements still to come include MVP (either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic), Coach of the Year (either Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla), and Rookie of the Year (either Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe, Dallas’ Cooper Flagg or Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel).

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

Maura Carey, The Associated Press