Inside the Stats: Looking at Milwaukee Bucks’ 2022-23 turnover numbers

The Milwaukee Bucks last season had 1,199 turnovers, the ninth-most in the league. That’s an average of 14.6 turnovers per game. The Golden State Warriors led the league with 1,336 turnovers, an average of 16.3 per game.

The 1,199 turnovers for the Bucks in 2022-23 were the most by the team since the 2015-16 season when they had 1,247. That was the sixth-most in the NBA that season.

The most turnovers the Bucks had in a game last season was 25 on January 4 in a 104-101 overtime win at Toronto. The fewest turnovers they had were five in a win over the Knicks on November 30. In fact, the Bucks had only six turnovers in another game versus the Knicks on October 28. Those were the two games with the fewest turnovers in 2022-23, both against the Knicks.

Here are a few more stats you may not know about the Bucks’ turnover numbers from last season.

Inside the Stats: Looking at Milwaukee Bucks’ 2022-23 turnover numbers

·         In games where the Bucks committed 15 or more turnovers, their record was 23-11 (.676). In games where they had fewer than 15 turnovers, the team was 35-13 (.729).

·         Milwaukee had 20 games last season with 17 or more turnovers; 12 of those games were on the road.

·         In the Bucks’ 24 losses in 2022-23, they had more turnovers than their opponents in 18 of those games.

·         The Bucks were 12-4 (.750) in games last season when they forced their opponents into 15 or more turnovers. When the Bucks opponents had less than 15 turnovers in a game, the Bucks were 46-20 (.697).

·         As noted above, Bucks opponents had 15 or more turnovers in only 16 games. That was the fewest of the 30 NBA teams last season. Oklahoma City topped this stat with 56 games where they forced their opponents into 15 or more turnovers, per Stathead (Subscription required).

·         Milwaukee committed more turnovers than their opponents in 54 of their 82 games last season.

·         The Bucks averaged 14.1 turnovers in their 24 losses and 14.8 turnovers in their 58 wins.

·         The two main ballhandlers for the Bucks last year were Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday. Giannis led the Bucks with 246 turnovers (he was sixth in the league in most turnovers), while Holiday was tied for 19th in the league with 197 turnovers. When Giannis had five or more turnovers in a game the team was 12-8; when he had zero to two turnovers in a game, the Bucks were 12-2. When Holiday had five or more turnovers in a game the team was 10-8; when he had two or fewer turnovers in a game the Bucks were 26-5.

·         The Bucks were one of only three teams to have two players in the Top 20 for turnovers. The others were Boston (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown) and Golden State (Jordan Poole and Draymond Green).

Turnovers have been an issue for Milwaukee for a while, so hopefully they can clean it up.

Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.