Oklahoma City Turnover Disparity has Cemented its West-Leading Position

The Oklahoma City Thunder has improved on many things they even excelled at a year ago—most largely in creating and minimizing turnover errors.
Jan 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) dribbles the ball against Philadelphia 76ers center Adem Bona (30) and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Jan 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) dribbles the ball against Philadelphia 76ers center Adem Bona (30) and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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Since a historic season for Oklahoma City a year ago, this team has fortified itself on several fronts just under 40 games into the 2024-25 season.

From rounding out its defense with veteran Alex Caruso, bringing on Isaiah Hartenstein to provide some rebounding padding to letting the young guns grow and blossom into their game, the Thunder has many strengths.Another massive strength of theirs this season has given them many opportunities to come back from deficits and come out on top in tight games.

There are two ways to create more opportunities for shots on the basket outside of solid team defense. The first—rebounding. Without staying afloat on the defensive boards, that is a recipe for disaster and hands the opponent easy shots on goal after the rebound and deflates a defense if it's repeated. The second—generating turnovers.

That is what Oklahoma CIty is excelling at this season. Their rebounding troubles a year ago eventually seeped in to its playoff performance and was a large part in its ultimate exit against the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder is still in the bottom half of the league in rebounds per game this season, but that's a massive improvement from its bottom-four placement a year ago.

With that improved, the Thunder already gain an upper hand. But coupled with how often this team generates turnovers defensively along with greatly limiting its own turnovers has landed them in the top five of field goals attempted per game.

Through 39 games, Oklahoma City has tallied just 474 turnovers to place second in the NBA in that category. Inversely, the Thunder comfortably lead the league in steals with 451 on the season, or 11.6 per game. Naturally, Oklahoma City leads the league in both points off turnovers and opponent points off turnovers.

It's a game-changer to have this success in taking care of the ball while also the whole team acting as a ball hound. If the Thunder sustains this, it's difficult to see anyone in the Western Conference besting them as of now.


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Nathan Aker
NATHAN AKER

Nathan is a senior at the University of Oklahoma majoring in Public Relations set to graduate in May 2024. He holds experience covering multiple sports, primarily basketball, at the high school and collegiate level.