Pelicans are averaging 12.4 steals a game, above any full-season mark in 12 years, and five teams sit at 10 or more

The New Orleans Pelicans are averaging 12.4 steals a game through eight contests, more than any team has averaged over a full season in the last 12 years. Five NBA teams are at 10 or more steals a game. The league average is 8.5, up from about 7.5 across most of the last decade.

New Orleans went on a four-game winning streak after an 0-4 start, and the ball pressure stayed high even as the wins arrived:

"Defense. Defense. Defense." pic.twitter.com/rYM7XrWfnZ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 5, 2026

Zion Williamson leads the Pelicans with 2.6 steals a game. Dejounte Murray is at 2.4 in five games. The team has recorded 15 or more steals three times and has not finished below eight in any game.

How rare 12 steals a game really is

• No team has averaged 10.5 or more steals over a full season since at least 2014-15. The high in that span is Detroit’s 10.4 last season, then Oklahoma City’s 10.3 in 2024-25
• New Orleans is at 12.4 after eight games. Toronto is second at 11.5. Denver (10.7), the Lakers (10.2) and the Clippers (10.1) round out a five-team group at 10 or more
• The league is at 8.5 steals a game through 121 contests. Full-season league averages sat between 7.3 and 7.8 for most of 2014-15 through 2023-24, then rose to 8.2 and 8.4 the last two completed seasons
• New Orleans also plays at the league’s fastest pace, 108.5 possessions a game. Even per 100 possessions, its steal rate is about 11.4, still well clear of a typical season

The early steal leaderboard

Team	Record	Steals/g	Blocks/g	Pace
Pelicans	4-4	12.4	4.8	108.5
Raptors	4-4	11.5	3.9	104.3
Nuggets	4-3	10.7	3.7	99.3
Lakers	7-2	10.2	7.1	101.1
Clippers	1-7	10.1	4.5	103.9
Hawks	5-4	9.7	3.4	105.2
Pistons	6-2	9.2	6.5	99.5
Timberwolves	6-3	9.2	5.2	103.6

Through Wednesday’s games. Pace is estimated possessions per game from field-goal attempts, offensive rebounds, turnovers and free-throw attempts.

What New Orleans’ nights have looked like

Date	Opponent	Result	Steals
Oct. 22	at Pacers	120-123 L	11
Oct. 24	Jazz	119-120 L	15
Oct. 25	Nuggets	135-141 L	9
Oct. 29	at Nuggets	91-104 L	14
Oct. 30	Kings	132-120 W	18
Oct. 31	Hawks	121-99 W	15
Nov. 3	Grizzlies	135-134 W (OT)	8
Nov. 4	Jazz	120-113 W (OT)	9

Opponents are turning the ball over 17.4 times a game against New Orleans. That is not the league high — Toronto forces about 19.2 — but the Pelicans convert those mistakes into steals at an unmatched rate. They are 4-4 with a plus-2.4 margin, so the pressure has not yet turned into a dominant record.

The highest full-season steal rates of the last 12 years

Season	Team	Steals/g	Record
2025-26	Detroit Pistons	10.4	60-22
2024-25	Oklahoma City Thunder	10.3	68-14
2019-20	Chicago Bulls	10.0	22-43
2015-16	Houston Rockets	10.0	41-41
2021-22	Memphis Grizzlies	9.8	56-26

Those five seasons are the only ones at 9.8 or higher since 2014-15. New Orleans would need to keep roughly this rate for another 70 games to sit alone at the top of that list. Early steal spikes usually cool: even the recent 10-steal seasons finished closer to 10 than 12.

Blocks are up at the top, too

The San Antonio Spurs lead the league at 7.4 blocks a game, and the Lakers are next at 7.1. The highest full-season block rate in the last 12 years is Golden State’s 7.5 in 2017-18. San Antonio is already within a tenth of that mark after eight games, with Victor Wembanyama’s career night of eight blocks against Dallas on Tuesday baked into the average.

Team	Record	Blocks/g	Steals/g
Spurs	6-2	7.4	8.4
Lakers	7-2	7.1	10.2
Jazz	1-7	6.6	6.8
Pistons	6-2	6.5	9.2
Cavaliers	4-4	6.0	7.2
Rockets	7-2	5.9	9.1

League-wide, teams are averaging 5.0 blocks a game. That is a quieter story than steals: the extremes are a couple of contenders sitting near historic season highs, not a five-team pileup above 10.

What to watch next

New Orleans hosts Brooklyn on Friday and Chicago on Saturday. Toronto visits Brooklyn on Friday before a back-to-back at Philadelphia on Saturday. Those games will show whether the two teams above 11 steals can hold the rate once the sample leaves the teens. San Antonio’s next home game after the Dallas win is against the Lakers, the other team above seven blocks a game.

Current box scores: ESPN. Full-season team rates since 2014-15: Basketball-Reference.