Though it’s easy to see why it’s being interpreted this way, Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels insists he didn’t pretend to make a gun gesture at his former teammates after hitting a 3-pointer on Sunday night.
Daniels, during the Hawks’ 126-111 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on Sunday, hit a shot from behind the arc. He quickly turned toward the Pelicans’ bench and appeared to make a gun gesture arm while holding three fingers extended.
Daniels, when asked about the moment after the game, said he was “just telling them all that it was worth 3 points.”
“It might have looked like [a gun], but I was just telling them it was worth 3 points,” Daniels said, via The Associated Press. “You know, pointing at them all, that’s all it was. I was making sure they all knew how many points it was worth.”
Daniels, who spent his first two seasons in the league with the Pelicans before he was traded to the Hawks this past offseason, was not penalized for the gesture in real time.
“I didn’t get [a technical foul], so the ref was right,” he said. “I was just out there having fun. I was hoping to hit a 3 in that corner so I could let the bench know about it. It was a game I had circled on my calendar.”
The NBA has fined players for similar gestures in the past. Josh Jackson, for example, received a $35,000 fine in 2017 for making a “menacing gesture” on the court that was directed at a fan. The NFL has cracked down on similar celebrations this season, too, and fined several players for making gun gestures while celebrating. It’s unclear if the NBA will penalize Daniels.
Daniels, who the Pelicans took with the No. 8 overall pick out of Australia in 2022, had 16 points and five rebounds in the Hawks’ win on Sunday night. He’s averaging a career-high 13.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game this season.
The win for Atlanta snapped a four-game losing skid and moved it to 3-4 on the season. The Hawks will host the Boston Celtics next on Monday night.