Hawks make NBA history with Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s Most Improved Player Award

Story by

Brett Siegel, ClutchPoints

Fri, Apr 24, 2026 ·

3 min read

Hawks make NBA history with Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s Most Improved Player Award appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been named the recipient of the George Mikan Trophy as the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Improved Player , the league announced on Friday night.

This marks the first time since the award’s inception during the 1985-86 season that a team has gone back-to-back years with one of its players claiming the Most Improved Player Award. Last season, Dyson Daniels was named the 2024-25 NBA Most Improved Player over Ivica Zubac and Cade Cunningham .

Alexander-Walker is the third player in Hawks history to ever win this award, joining Daniels and Alan Henderson (1997-98).

After joining the Hawks in a sign-and-trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves last summer, Alexander-Walker burst onto the scene in Atlanta as a key starter in the backcourt.

The 27-year-old combo guard started in a career-high 71 of his 78 games this season, averaging 20.8 points, 3.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor and 39.9 percent from 3-point range. He increased his scoring average from last season with the Timberwolves by 121.3 percent.

While essentially doubling the amount of shot attempts he had per game compared to last season, Alexander-Walker increased his field-goal percentage by 2.1 percent, and he shot a career-high 39.9 percent from distance while attempting over eight triples a game, almost double the amount of 3-pointers he took in Minnesota during the 2024-25 season.

Alexander-Walker went from being a key role player on the Timberwolves’ bench to becoming a focal starter for the Hawks, and his contributions directly impacted the team’s midseason turnaround.

At the All-Star break in mid-February, the Hawks were 26-30 and stumbling in the Eastern Conference standings. During the second half of the season, Alexander-Walker never scored fewer than 14 points in a game, helping Atlanta go 20-6 over its final 26 games of the regular season.

The Hawks finished the season 46-36 overall, claiming the 6-seed in the first round of the playoffs and a matchup with the New York Knicks , who they currently lead 2-1 through the first three games of the series.

This has been a breakout year for Alexander-Walker, and his performances have caught the attention of everyone around the league, including a family member he runs into every so often on the court.

Reigning league MVP and Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , who also happens to be Alexander-Walker’s cousin, acknowledged the growth in his younger cousin’s game, declaring him this season’s most improved playe r weeks before the award was announced.

“Yeah, he better win,” the Thunder guard said of Alexander-Walker’s MIP chances at the end of the regular season. “I think what’s most impressive about it is just how he stuck with it, like us obviously going through so many experiences of life together, being the same age, and obviously both making it to the NBA, our pasts were like so connected until a certain point, and then they just like went left and right.

“We’ve talked so many times – countless times – about just being ready when the moment comes, and I’m just proud of how much he stuck with it and has taken advantage of this moment.”

The other finalists for the 2025-26 NBA Most Improved Player Award that Alexander-Walker received more votes than were Portland Trail Blazers first-time All-Star Deni Avdija and Detroit Pistons first-time All-Star Jalen Duren .

Alexander-Walker is just the third of the last nine Most Improved Player Award recipients to not be named a first-time All-Star in the same season as winning the award.