Turnovers in basketball

A turnover is a mistake by the team with the ball that gives the ball to the other team. Common turnovers are bad passes, losing the dribble, violations such as traveling, and offensive fouls. Only the team in control of the ball can commit one.

What counts

• Bad pass: a pass that is intercepted or goes out of bounds. Charge the passer, unless the pass should have been caught. Then charge the receiver.
• Ball handling: losing the ball while dribbling or holding it, or dropping a catchable pass.
• Violations: traveling, double dribble, three seconds, five seconds, backcourt, stepping out of bounds.
• Offensive fouls: a charge or an illegal screen by the team with the ball.

What does not count

• A missed shot. The defense gets the ball through a rebound, not a turnover.
• A held ball where the possession arrow gives the ball back to the offense.
• A technical foul on an offensive player while a teammate has the ball. The FIBA manual records the technical with no turnover.

Judgment calls

Turnovers with no player at fault. Some rule sets charge certain violations, like shot clock violations, to the team instead of a player. HoopReads records a turnover only against a player.

One mistake, two violations. When a bad pass makes a teammate step out of bounds to catch it, charge the passer. Record the cause, not the result.

Did they have it? When the ball changes hands twice in a scramble, the FIBA manual says to assume there was no change of possession if you are in doubt.

How a statkeeper records it

Charge the player at fault. If a defender caused it by touching the ball, also credit that defender with a steal. An offensive foul is two entries: a personal foul and a turnover, both against the same player.

Say it to HoopReads

“James turnover”

“Tyler travels”

“James turns it over, foul on James”

Related stats

Turnovers pair with steals on defense and with assists on offense. Back to the basketball stats guide.