Dyson Daniels’ thieving ways have the Australian guard on track for a historic NBA season after another four-steal haul earned comparisons to Hall of Famer Allen Iverson.

The Boomers star had three steals in the first four minutes against Brooklyn on Sunday (Monday AEDT) and has now tallied 191 this campaign.

It was his 24th game with at least four steals, the most in an NBA season since Iverson in 2002-03.

Not since Spanish great Ricky Rubio 11 years ago has a player collected as many regular-season steals - and there are still 14 games to go.

The 22-year-old also had 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds but the Hawks coughed up a 10-point third-quarter lead to lose 122-114 in New York.

Cam Johnson scored 28 points and Keon Johnson added 22 for the Nets, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 12 games to extend their home streak against Atlanta to six.

The upset dropped the Hawks to 32-36 this season, still good enough for seventh in the Eastern Conference.

Daniels is also leading the lead in deflections and that middling record may be the only drawback in his pursuit of defensive player of the year honours.

He’s currently fifth with bookmakers to claim the gong, behind Cleveland favourite Evan Mobley, Jaren Jackson Jnr, Draymond Green and Lu Dort.

On the opposite side of the country, Australian pair Ben Simmons (three assists, two rebounds, one block) and Patty Mills (five points) were reduced to cameos as their Los Angeles Clippers blitzed Josh Green’s (eight points) Charlotte 123-88.

Simmons has been confident and effective since joining from Brooklyn and overcoming a knee complaint to feature alongside James Harden (31 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) and Kawhi Leonard (23 points), who both dominated against the Hornets.

The Clippers (38-30) are eighth in the Western Conference, three spots behind LA rivals the Lakers who snapped a four-game losing streak to beat Phoenix.

LeBron James (groin) missed his fourth straight game, but coach JJ Redick said the top scorer in NBA history is “ramping up” towards a return.

Luka Doncic (33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists) did the damage for the Lakers, who returned from an 0-4 road trip to extend their home winning streak to seven games with the 107-96 win.

Kevin Durant scored 21 points and Devin Booker had 19 for the 11th-placed Suns, who missed a chance to gain ground on Dallas for the West’s final play-in spot after the Mavericks lost 130-125 at Philadelphia.

Western pacesetters Oklahoma City shrugged aside Milwaukee 121-105, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points offsetting a Giannis Antetokounmpo triple-double.

Australian centre Duop Reath had nine points and five rebounds in 17 minutes to help Portland beat Toronto 105-102.

And the in-form Josh Giddey is hopeful of returning from an ankle sprain at some point on Chicago’s six-game road trip that begins on Monday in Utah.