Turnovers are the worst statistic an NBA player can record, but the league’s best players have committed the most in the last decade.
But the turnover stat also shows that the best players in the NBA are never afraid to fail. Throughout the last decade, the best players in the league’s modern history have racked up the most turnovers, mainly because they have the most responsibility. James Harden leads the list with Russell Westbrook not far behind.
1. James Harden – 3,090 Turnovers
2. Russell Westbrook – 3,073 Turnovers
3. LeBron James – 2,441 Turnovers
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo – 2,130 Turnovers
5. Stephen Curry – 2,003 Turnovers
6. Damian Lillard – 1,943 Turnovers
7. Paul George – 1,774 Turnovers
8. John Wall – 1,739 Turnovers
9. Nikola Jokic – 1,709 Turnovers
10. Kyle Lowry – 1,705 Turnovers
If a team didn’t trust you with the ball in your hands, you wouldn’t get the chance to commit so many turnovers. Every single turnover for all these players was worth it because they established themselves as All-Star caliber players while making these ‘mistakes’. You can’t succeed if you always fear failure, so if these players got disheartened every time they turned the ball over, they’d never be successful.
The Best Players Will Always Turn The Ball Over
Whenever we look at all-time records, people often point out turnovers as a negative point against a player. While that is statistically a fair argument, as a turnover reflects a wasted possession, but it isn’t fair to make assumptions of talent based on that. A high usage rate will also lead to a high degree of turnovers, especially if it’s a primary playmaker and ball-handler who is being tasked with this role. That explains why James Harden and Russell Westbrook lead this list by a huge margin.
Even Michael Jordan averaged 3.1 turnovers per game during his playoff career. This is without having playmaking responsibilities thrust upon him. But the turnovers weren’t a sign of him struggling or playing poorly but a sign of how much the team relied upon him, despite him not being the primary ball-handler on the squad.
LeBron James has made it to 10 NBA Finals and leads the playoffs in turnovers. That cannot possibly be used as a negative statistic, because it shows the burden of responsibility James has held throughout his career. He not only was tasked to score for most of his playoff career but he’s also needed to average a lot of assists to keep his teams competitive.
Turnovers are a part and parcel of basketball, but low-usage high-turnover players do have something to address in their s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 sets.
James Harden And Russell Westbrook Are The Only Ones In The 3000-Turnover Club
Out of everyone in the NBA, only two players managed to crack the barrier of 3,00 turnovers. LeBron James is third on the list but over 500 turnovers behind both Westbrook and Harden, who enjoyed some extremely high-usage years in the last 2010s for their respective franchises.
Harden was putting up historic numbers during his prime years with the Houston Rockets, averaging 32.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 8.8 assists from 2016-17 to 2019-20. In that time, he became a perennial MVP candidate and made the Rockets the team that came the closest to beating the Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry Warriors squad.
Unfortunately, his turnover-heavy game wouldn’t work as well in the playoffs and Harden has nothing to show for all those years with the Rockets in terms of playoff success.
A very similar story can be seen with Russell Westbrook, though his high-usage seasons put a ceiling of first-round exit on the Thunder. He averaged 26.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 10.4 assists from 2016-17 to 2018-19 on the Thunder but saw his playoff hopes dashed in the first round every single season. He won an MVP in 2017 aided by his high-usage style of play and became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple double.
