The Atlanta Hawks have gotten a career-best season out of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. It's been one of the biggest improvements in the NBA.
The NBA Most Improved Player award is one of the best individual awards you can win.
Think about it. Sure, the Most Valuable Player award is the most coveted. Otherwise, Most Improved is right there. What more could a team want from one of its players than to be named the most improved player in the entire NBA?
So, the Atlanta Hawks are thriving in 2025-26. They have two Most Improved Player candidates in Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson.
One of them is likely to even take the award home.
Let's go ahead and rule Johnson out. He's a fringe candidate anyway. That's not a knock on the Hawks' franchise player. It's merely recognition that he looked like a budding star last season. The biggest improvement in Johnson's game has been his availability.
By contrast, Alexander-Walker has made the leap from valuable role player to fringe star. He's more than doubled his points per game average, from 9.4 to 20.6. At this moment, he's seen as the betting favorite to win the award.
That said, his chief competition comes from outside his own team.
If Alexander-Walker doesn't win the award, likely, either the Detroit Pistons' Jalen Duren or the Portland Trail Blazers' Deni Avdija will receive it.
They're both viable candidates. Duren increased his scoring output from 11.8 to 19.5 points per game. Avdija went from 16.9 to 23.9. Points per game won't be the only criterion voters consider, but it does have a way of swaying them.
So, let's talk advanced stats. Alexander-Walker bumped his Box Plus/Minus (BPM) from -0.4 to 0.9 (+0.5). Duren went from 3.4 to 4.9 (+0.6). Avdija made the biggest leap in that category, from 2.1 to 4.2 (+2.1).
Is the award his to lose?
Let's rule Duren out.
He's made tremendous strides this year, but he's made the least improvement of the three players named. The difference in BPM increase between him and Alexander-Walker is negligible. Alexander-Walker's role has changed more materially, as he wasn't responsible for much shot creation with the Timberwolves in 2024-25.
If the award goes to Avdija, Hawks fans will have to accept that. His usage has exploded this year. It does feel worth noting that his three-point efficiency has dipped from 36.5% to 31.7%, but that will happen when you start seeing entirely new coverages.
So, Alexander-Walker isn't the overwhelming favorite. He's still got as good of a shot as anyone. Provided nothing dramatically changes in what remains of the 2025-26 season, voters will have a difficult choice to make. Hawks fans should be pleased that he's even in the conversation:
It's a very meaningful award.