Nickeil Alexander-Walker Rumors

Michael Porter Jr.: If I would have been on the Nuggets, I think we wouldn’t have lost to the Wolves. We would have had too many matchup problems. They were able to put Jaden McDaniels on Jamal Murray, but then who were you going to put on me? When we played them last year, they put Nickeil Alexander-Walker on Jamal. They put Jaden on me. Two really good defenders. If I was out there, I think it would have been a little bit different. But I think it’s weird. I was talking to her earlier. I kind of feel like a hater a little bit, because I’m watching the series and those are my guys on the team. I want them to do well, but I couldn’t fully cheer for them because they traded me. It’s a weird feeling, kind of, because I felt kind of like a hater, low-key.

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Alexander-Walker said he feels emboldened that the team began something that they can keep building on. “It’s exciting and it’s promising,” Alexander-Walker said. “And it shows that there is something there. Anytime you can have success to any degree when you work really hard, it’s reassuring to the process that you’re on. “And it gives you that trial and error to say, ‘OK, we are doing the right thing. This is the right thing. Now, where did we go wrong along the way?’ Then you kind of, like, just reshape it and keep going and keep growing.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Malik Brown: Nickeil on if the opportunity he had this season lived up to what he said on Media Day: “I think it surpassed it. I didn’t expect it to be all of this. Similarities but not the way it formed itself.. “It was an opportunity that came in an unfortunate way and I had to take advantage of that and grab it by the horns..”

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Malik Brown: Nickeil on how he’ll process this moving forward: “I’m pissed off… “No matter how bad we lose, how big of a win we have. Success, failure, I’ve been through it all now. For me, it’s just about developing, growing, embracing it, and being a better father, husband, son, cousin, all that stuff.”

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David Lee: Nickeil Alexander-Walker: “They’ve had their share of what we’ve yet to endure.”

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Brad Rowland: Nickeil Alexander-Walker received 66 out of 100 first place votes for MIP. Jalen Johnson finished 6th. Full voting results here:

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NBA Communications: Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been named the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Improved Player, earning the George Mikan Trophy.

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Ohm Youngmisuk: Hawks' guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker wins the Most Improved Player award. He is the second Hawk to win the award in a row, following Dyson Daniels. Alexander-Walker averaged a career-high 20.8 points, increasing his scoring by 11.4 points from the 9.4 points per game last season

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Don't forget, furthermore, that the Wolves felt as though they could withstand Alexander-Walker's exit in large part because they still had DiVincenzo. The Wolves went after him hard in free agency in the summer of 2023 ... only to lose out to the Knicks.  Sources tell The Stein Line now, in fact, that Minnesota would not have been willing to swing its stunning swap of Karl-Anthony Towns to New York for Julius Randle just days before the start of training camp in September 2024 unless DiVincenzo was also included in the deal.

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However, his defense has been equally impactful, and for that he credits his former Warriors teammate Green — notably on a key play late in Game 2 when he shoved Alexander-Walker back into the right defensive position to stop Brunson rather than switching. “It’s just instinct,” Jonathan Kuminga said. “I give my praise to Draymond … I’ve seen him do that so many times, like so many times, he’s one of the best. Seeing somebody doing it all the time … and Nickeil [was] still in good position. Like I say, I watched Draymond do it, it’s little things that don’t go on the [stat] sheet that help you.” “Jonathan’s just been all in,” Snyder said. “Tonight he did some things that really gave our team a lift. I think the biggest thing he’s done is he’s just defended. Another guy that’s in there competing and defending.”

New York Times

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is well aware that the Timberwolves allowed him to exit via free agency last July in part because of the money Minnesota committed to Naz Reid ... plus their belief in Donte DiVincenzo and his cheaper contract. Those circumstances led to Alexander-Walker, now the heavy favorite to win the NBA's Most Improved Player race as a Hawk this week, being sacrificed in the Wolves' build around Anthony Edwards. “Nobody really expected me to be doing this," Alexander-Walker told The Stein Line, referring to the 20.8 points per game he posted this 2025-26 campaign — nearly double his highest single-season average during any of his prior six seasons.

marcstein.substack.com

NBA Communications: The three finalists for the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, @ATLHawks Deni Avdija, @trailblazers Jalen Duren, @DetroitPistons

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Kevin Chouinard: Hawks missing lots of players tonight. For tonight’s game at Miami: Mo Gueye (right shoulder inflammation) is questionable. Nickeil Alexander-Walker (right great toe sprain) is out. Dyson Daniels (left great toe sprain) is out. Jalen Johnson (rest) is out. Jonathan Kuminga (left knee injury management) is out. Jock Landale (right high ankle sprain) is out. CJ McCollum (rest) is out. Onyeka Okongwu (left index finger sprain) is out. Gabe Vincent (left knee inflammation) is out.

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Ira Winderman: Hawks are listing almost the entire rotation (Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Jonathan Kuminga, CJ McCollum, Onyeka Okongwu) as questionable for Sunday at Heat, as if they are considering their seeding options.

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