As we enter Christmas time, we explore every team's biggest unexpected gift of the 2024-25 NBA season thus far.
Inching closer to the 30-game mark of the regular season, it's only natural to begin to look back at how this season has gone for teams across the league. For some, it's been even better than expected. For others, it's been pretty disastrous. While it could be difficult to be positive about a few teams in the league, with Christmas around the corner, we identify every team's biggest unexpected gift of the 2024-25 NBA season thus far.
Atlanta Hawks
Unexpected gift: The emergence of Dyson Daniels
Heading into the start of the season, there were plenty of uncertainties revolving around the Atlanta Hawks. Viewed as a team that could pivot toward a rebuild at any moment, there wasn't much expected for the team this season. However, much of that has changed. Even though the Hawks are still an inconsistent East team, the surprise emergence of Dyson Daniels has been a pleasant development for the team's outlook.
Daniels went from being an afterthought in New Orleans to the potential long-term answer in the backcourt opposite of Trae Young. Daniels is having a career year, averaging 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists on 45 percent shooting from the field while playing excellent defense in the backcourt for the Hawks.
Boston Celtics
Unexpected gift: Payton Pritchard's huge improvement
It's not as if the Boston Celtics needed it with how deep of a roster they already have but there's no question that the continued development of Payton Pritchard has paid huge dividends so far this season. And if he continues to play at this strong pace, there's no question he's going to play a huge role for this team when the NBA Playoffs roll around. The continued emergence of Pritchard will only make this Celtics team that much more difficult to overcome in a playoff series.
Coming off their first successful championship run since the 2008 season, the Celtics find themselves in a great position to repeat as champions. For as much credit as the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown should get, it's the contributions of players like Pritchard that make the Celtics borderline unbeatable.