5 Stats That Highlight Milwaukee Bucks Turnover Woes

The Milwaukee Bucks’ offense is slumping this season and hasn’t played to the standard the set during the first four years under head coach Mike Budenholzer.

There are a lot of reasons for the decline and the amount of turnovers is tops among them. Milwaukee has been careless and sloppy with the basketball, breaking every classic idiom players are taught growing up about valuing the rock.

Following their rock fight against the Toronto Raptors, they rank 23rd in the NBA by turning the ball over on 15.4 percent of their possessions. Here are five stats that highlight their recent struggles.

Turnovers up to December 2nd

Milwaukee was about league-average over the first quarter of the season when it came to taking care of the basketball. Over their first 21 games leading up to December 2nd, they ranked 13th in the NBA with a 14.4 percent turnover rate. That was just a few percentage points away from being in the top 10.

Turnovers since December 3rd

All hell has broke loose since then. Milwaukee is extremely sloppy with the ball, often throwing it right into opponent’s waiting hands. Their decision-making has been questionable at best, as their point guards lead the way in coughing it up (more on that later).

Since December 3rd (17 games), Milwaukee ranks dead last in turnover percentage at 16.5 percent. And it’s not particularly close, either. The difference between them and the 29th-ranked New Orleans Pelicans is the same as the Pelicans and the 23rd-ranked Los Angeles Clippers. The Bucks have turned the ball over on at least 20 percent of their possessions in about one-third of those games, including a quarter of their possessions in their victory over the Raptors on Wednesday night.

Dead ball turnovers

Fortunately, Milwaukee doesn’t give up too many live-ball turnovers which can directly lead to fast break opportunities for their opponents (another area they’re struggling in this season). Most of their giveaways are of the dead ball variety, as they have the second most per 100 possessions. This can include stepping or passing out of bounds, carries, travels, or three seconds in the lane.

Travels

Speaking of travels, it is nasty out there. The NBA has cracked down league-wide on travels this season and it is impacting the Bucks the most. Milwaukee ranks first in the NBA in travels per 100 possessions (they only averaged 0.73 in 2021-22).

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the biggest perpetrator, as he leads the league with 19 total travels. Brook Lopez has been called for 10, Bobby Portis for 7 and MarJon Beauchamp for eight in just a fraction of their minutes.

Top offenders

Antetokounmpo might lead the Bucks in turnovers per game, but his turnover percentage (a number calculated based on how often a player turned the ball over when using a possession) is in good shape. That’s an indication of his sky-high usage rate.

Jrue Holiday has been the biggest red flag. He’s second on the Bucks in turnovers per game and has a high turnover percentage. He makes a lot of boneheaded plays with the ball for someone who is so intelligent. Joe Ingles, Jevon Carter and Beauchamp are the three other major offenders.