{"id":518040,"date":"2026-01-05T12:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/518040\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T12:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:32:26","slug":"young-atlanta-hawks-bringing-out-the-best-in-toronto-native-nickeil-alexander-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/518040\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Atlanta Hawks bringing out the best in Toronto native Nickeil Alexander-Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Atlanta Hawks’ guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) shoots as Toronto Raptors Gradey Dick (left), Ja’Kobe Walter (14) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) defend during their game in Toronto on Saturday.Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is putting together the best season of his seven-year NBA career piece-by-piece.<\/p>\n

Alexander-Walker is averaging career highs in every significant stat category this season including points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks for the Atlanta Hawks. The 27-year-old from Toronto said after Saturday\u2019s 134-117 loss to the Raptors<\/a> that he has learned how to do all the behind-the-scenes stuff well.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle, small deeds, over time become big when you add them all up,\u201d said Alexander-Walker, who joined the Hawks in the off-season. \u201cI think for me, I\u2019ve gotten really good at putting the small pieces together.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my circle, the guys that helped me out this summer, trainers, to guys on the team being so welcoming to me, allowing me to step into this role, and cheering me on to the organization, to the team, the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander-Walker was selected 17th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 NBA Draft but his rights were traded to Atlanta two weeks later. They were then immediately sent to the New Orleans Pelicans who signed him to his first professional contract.<\/p>\n

He played a little over two seasons in New Orleans before being dealt to the Utah Jazz and then again to the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

Alexander-Walker signed a four-year, US$62-million contract on July 6, 2025 in a sign-and-trade with the Hawks that sent a 2027 second-round pick and cash considerations to Minnesota. He said that part of his success in Atlanta has been thanks to the warm reception he\u2019s gotten since that most recent deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really more than me going out there and putting up numbers, or even just working hard,\u201d said Alexander-Walker, who had 31 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals on Saturday against Toronto. \u201cI\u2019m a hard critic on myself, and [Hawks coaches and players] allow me to make mistakes and say \u2019keep being aggressive.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means the world to me and it allows me to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) looks to pass as Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (second left) defends during their game in Toronto on Saturday.Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alexander-Walker entered Saturday\u2019s contest averaging 20.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 0.6 blocks per game, all career highs. His one steal per game matches the number he had for New Orleans in the 2020-21 season, also a career high.<\/p>\n

Hawks coach Quin Snyder, who also briefly coached Alexander-Walker on the Jazz, said that he\u2019s impressed by how the 6-foot-5 guard continues to develop as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just his numbers, which we can all see,\u201d said Snyder in his pre-game news conference. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be with a player for a long time to get a feel for who they are and what they can do. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince the time we were in Utah together, I\u2019ve watched him a lot and seen how he\u2019s evolved defensively, shooting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

At an average age of 23.79 years, Atlanta was the third youngest team in the NBA to start this season, with Brooklyn (23.36) and the Washington Wizards (23.78) slightly more youthful. Snyder said that Alexander-Walker\u2019s influence \u2013 especially with four-time all-star Trae Young missing long stretches of the season \u2013 has been invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest things he\u2019s given us is a voice both on and off the court,\u201d said Snyder. \u201cJust a level of professionalism that he brings, a work ethic, all those quote-unquote intangibles that I think make him a special player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s really a person that you\u2019d want to play with to teach you and help you grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks and Raptors will play again on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Atlanta Hawks’ guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) shoots as Toronto Raptors Gradey Dick (left),…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[10388,10376,7,10389,4500,9436,10390,4821,10371,10382,10383,10378,10372,10370,7678,6682,10387,10381,10375,10401,10373,10374,10380,10377,1943,2679,10391,9876,6,10396,10397,10399,10394,10398,10392,10395,6870,10385,10386,3559,10384,10393,681,83,1963,680,476,3820,9087,10379,4486,447,10400],"class_list":["post-518040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-raptors","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-basketball","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-raptors","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-torontoraptors","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}