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Fouls are no higher than last October, but turnovers and cold threes are: the NBA’s first 68 games against the same stretch of the last seven seasons
The NBA is averaging 23.2 fouls, 16.4 turnovers and 34.3% from three after 68 games. Against the same point of the last seven seasons, the whistle is normal for October. The turnovers and the cold shooting are not.
In this article
The NBA’s first 68 games have looked like a season of whistles, turnovers and missed threes. Teams are committing 23.2 personal fouls a game, turning it over 16.4 times and making 34.3% of their threes. Next to last season’s full-season averages of 19.9 fouls, 14.5 turnovers and 36.0%, that looks like a different sport.
But October is a bad month to compare with April. So we measured this season’s first 68 games against the first 68 games of each of the previous seven seasons, from 2019-20 through 2025-26, using league box scores, and then checked how each of those seasons finished using Basketball-Reference’s league averages. Some of what looked new is just the early-season pattern. Some of it is not. All figures are per team, per game, through Wednesday’s games.
The numbers that stand out
- Fouls: 23.2 per team per game. Last season’s first 68 games had 23.0, and it finished at 19.9
- Free-throw attempts: 25.6, fewer than the 27.0 at the same point of last season
- Turnovers: 16.4, the second most of the eight early-season samples, behind only 2019-20 (16.6)
- Three-point percentage: 34.3%, the lowest of the eight. The previous low was 34.4% in 2021-22
- Steals (8.8) and offensive rebounds (12.2) are the most of any of the eight early-season samples
- In all seven previous seasons, turnovers went down and three-point and field-goal percentage went up between the first 68 games and the end of the season
This season against the same point of the last seven
| Season | Points | Fouls | FTA | Turnovers | Steals | 3PA | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | 114.3 | 23.2 | 25.6 | 16.4 | 8.8 | 37.5 | 34.3% |
| 2025-26 | 118.0 | 23.0 | 27.0 | 15.8 | 8.6 | 37.0 | 35.7% |
| 2024-25 | 113.4 | 21.3 | 25.0 | 15.1 | 8.2 | 37.1 | 35.6% |
| 2023-24 | 111.8 | 20.1 | 22.1 | 15.0 | 8.1 | 35.1 | 35.0% |
| 2022-23 | 113.4 | 21.5 | 24.0 | 14.6 | 7.6 | 34.2 | 35.6% |
| 2021-22 | 108.8 | 19.6 | 20.1 | 15.1 | 8.3 | 36.0 | 34.4% |
| 2020-21 | 112.2 | 21.0 | 23.2 | 15.7 | 8.1 | 34.6 | 36.2% |
| 2019-20 | 110.3 | 23.3 | 24.8 | 16.6 | 7.9 | 33.7 | 34.7% |
Per team per game in each season’s first 68 regular-season games. 2020-21 started in December.
The whistle: loud, but not new
When we looked at the first 14 games, fouls were up 4.5 per team on last season’s full-season average and free-throw attempts were up 5.5. Against the same stretch of last season, the gap almost disappears. This season’s 23.2 fouls a game are 0.2 more than the first 68 games of 2025-26, and 0.1 fewer than 2019-20. Free-throw attempts are actually down 1.4 from last October.
The whistle has also eased within this season. The first 14 games averaged 24.5 fouls and 29.0 free-throw attempts per team. The most recent 34 games averaged 22.7 fouls and 24.5 attempts. That is the usual direction. In six of the last seven seasons, fouls per game dropped between the first 68 games and the end of the season, by an average of 1.9. The exception was 2021-22, when they stayed level. Last season’s drop of 3.1 was the largest of the seven, and its free-throw attempts fell by 3.5 a game.
If this season falls by the seven-year average, it would finish at about 21.4 fouls per team per game. That would still be the most in a full season since 2006-07, when teams averaged 22.2, according to Basketball-Reference.
Where the whistle is loudest
| Team | Games | Stat | Per game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 5 | Free-throw attempts | 33.6 (most) |
| Toronto | 4 | Opponent free-throw attempts | 34.0 (most) |
| Brooklyn, Toronto | 4 | Fouls committed | 27.5 (most) |
| Oklahoma City | 5 | Fouls committed | 19.8 (fewest) |
| San Antonio | 5 | Opponent free-throw attempts | 18.2 (fewest) |
| Dallas | 5 | Free-throw attempts | 17.2 (fewest) |
Through Wednesday’s games.
Chicago’s number includes the 47 free throws it took in its opener against Toronto, still the most by one team in a game this season. Oklahoma City, 4-1, has been the cleanest defense in the league so far, committing the fewest fouls and allowing the second-fewest free-throw attempts.
Turnovers and steals: the part that looks real
The bigger change from last season is in ball security. Teams are averaging 16.4 turnovers, 0.6 more than at the same point of last season and the second most of the eight early-season samples. Steals are at 8.8 per team, the most of the eight. Turnovers fell in all seven previous seasons between the first 68 games and the end of the season, by 0.5 to 2.1, so some of this will fade. Even with the seven-year average drop of 1.3, the league would finish at about 15.1 a game, a level no full season has topped since 1999-2000.
The Clippers are the extreme case at 23.5 turnovers a game in four games, including 24 in Wednesday’s loss to the Lakers. Charlotte is next at 20.2. Portland (13.7), Philadelphia (13.4) and San Antonio (13.2) have turned it over the least.
Threes: the coldest start of the eight
Teams are taking more threes than in any of the previous seven early-season samples, 37.5 a game, and making fewer of them. The league is shooting 34.3% from three, the lowest of the eight early-season samples, and 1.4 points below the same stretch of last season. Field-goal percentage is 45.9%.
History says this will improve. In all seven previous seasons, three-point percentage was higher at the end of the season than after the first 68 games, by 0.3 to 1.6 points. It has already started this season. The first 14 games shot 33.1% from three, and the most recent 34 shot 35.1%.
Video: NBA / X. Julian Champagnie made eight threes in the first half of San Antonio’s 130-103 win over Sacramento on Tuesday.
Houston has been the best shooting team in the league at 40.4% from three, and it has the league’s best record at 5-0. The Lakers (39.2%), Memphis (39.1%) and the Clippers (39.0%) are next. At the other end are New Orleans (29.0%), Washington (28.5%) and Chicago (27.6%), and Chicago’s free throws have not made up for it.
Scoring is down from last October
Teams are scoring 114.3 points a game, 3.8 fewer than the first 68 games of last season, which started at 118.0 and finished at 115.6. It is still the second-highest early-season scoring of the eight. Offensive rebounds, at 12.2 a game, are the most of any of the eight samples, which fits a league that is missing more shots.
What to watch
The next checkpoint is around 150 games, in the second week of November. Three numbers will say whether this season is different or just early: fouls, which need to fall below last season’s 19.9 to call the whistle normal; turnovers, which have never stayed this high past October in the last seven seasons; and three-point percentage, which would need to climb about 1.7 points to reach last season’s 36.0%.
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