Stephen Curry dribbled up the court with Houston Rockets guard Josh Okogie attached to his right hip. Curry tried to spin away and lost control of the ball. He dove for it as if head coach Steve Kerr had just ranted about turnovers.

Curry couldn’t corral it. Okogie picked up the loose ball and advanced it to Reed Sheppard in transition. With only one Golden State Warriors defender back, Sheppard pulled up from 28 feet. It was clear before the ball left his hands. It was going in.

✌️ Reed middy
👋 Reed steal
👌 Reed THREE

what a sequence 👏 pic.twitter.com/BAQYPa7HGc

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) November 27, 2025

“The game is a lot faster now,” Draymond Green said of the issue that flared up in that Golden State loss two weeks ago, “so the rate people convert on them is higher. Guys are just too good in transition these days. You let teams get in transition off turnovers, it’s tough to beat.”

Kerr is convinced. Golden State’s offense is the weak link, and the most significant reason the Warriors are hovering around .500 is their addiction to turnovers.

The Warriors have the second-most turnovers in the NBA, behind only Portland. They’re the only teams already over 400. Golden State’s 16 per game is tied for the 26th-worst total in the league.

The Warriors’ turnovers have led to 469 points for the opponent. Only the Wizards (474) have surrendered more points.

“I have zero doubt,” Kerr said, “that the No. 1 thing that is keeping us from consistently winning is our turnovers. Zero doubt. The numbers show it. The tape shows it.”

But that’s not exactly new. Turnovers are as synonymous with the Warriors as 3-point shooting and transition. And championships. The Warriors have finished in the bottom-third of the league eight times since Kerr took over in 2014-15. This season would be the ninth. Yet, they went to five NBA Finals and won three titles in those high turnover seasons. In 2021-22, they ranked 29th and won the title. In 2022-23, they finished 30th and made the West semis.

So what’s different? Why are turnovers so debilitating? After examining all 383 Warriors turnovers this season, not counting team turnovers, some answers emerge.

They’ve committed 102 turnovers from aggressive pressure. More than a quarter of Golden State’s turnovers — 26.6 percent — happened under duress. Not just regular good defense. The focus was on turnovers produced directly by traps, overplaying or denying defenders and extra aggressive pressure. Opposing defenses are smothering the Warriors on the perimeter, taking away clean looks from 3-point range and exploiting a glaring weakness.

They have a dearth of playmakers. The way to attack aggressive defense is to drive. But the Warriors are 25th in the NBA with 43 drives per game, per NBA Stats. The players who can do it effectively, Curry and Jimmy Butler, face traps and help defenders as opponents accept the risk of leaving other players open.

The Warriors lead the NBA in wide-open shots from behind the arc (493). They’re making 40.1 percent of them, but teams are willing to live with it.

The Warriors are not punishing a rotating defense with penetration. Their four primary drivers, per NBA Stats: Butler (253), Brandin Podziemski (152), Jonathan Kuminga (128) and Curry (127). Butler’s drives produced 75 shots and 60 free throws for 128 points. Curry’s drives produced 61 shots and 20 free throws for 81 points. But Podziemski’s relatively high volume of drives doesn’t produce as much offense: 54 shots, 30 free throws, 76 points. Kuminga, now out of the rotation, even fewer: 66 points on 57 shots and 20 free throws.

Next on the list: Pat Spencer. He’s already fifth on the team. It’s why he’s had such a visceral impact off the bench. Spencer quenches the Warriors’ thirst for someone to attack as a counter to the popular defensive scheme against them.

Curry (20), Draymond Green (14) and Butler (11) account for 45 of the turnovers against overt pressure. That’s 57 for the rest, led by Podziemski’s 14 and eight each for Kuminga and Moses Moody.

They aren’t comfortable under pressure. They aren’t strong with the ball. They aren’t countering aggression with aggression.

They have 171 unforced turnovers. This number could be higher. Kerr might think so. The focus was turnovers not directly coaxed by defense, that instead were the product of the offensive players’ decision-making or poor execution. Moving screens account for 31 of these turnovers.

Green accounted for a team-high 33, followed by Curry’s 21.

“The turnovers belong to Steph and Dray,” Butler said. “They get to make as many turnovers as humanly possible. And for everybody else, we just cannot turn the ball over. It’s just the way that it is. And I believe that, that is fair. Because the world isn’t fair. So they get to turn the ball over. And I’m fine with that.”

If you had to guess who had the next most unforced turnovers, who would you say?

Take a moment.

Buddy Hield with 20.

“I don’t think it’s fair, Jimmy,” Hield chimed in after Butler explained the turnover hierarchy.

“We don’t care, Buddy,” Butler yelled back to Hield. “You should never worry about turnovers. You shouldn’t dribble.”

Hield is followed by Podziemski (15), Kuminga (14) and Gary Payton II (11). Moody, Gui Santos, Quinten Post and Will Richard each had eight.

The unforced turnovers, at least in part, connect with the Warriors’ playmaker limitations. The movement, the passing, the misdirection, it’s still there. Golden State is just less equipped to take advantage of it.

The Warriors put a lot of players on the floor who need to be open to score and who only get open when the offense creates the opening. Their preferred method is passing.

Golden State leads the league in passes, with nearly 1,000 more than the No. 2 team, Chicago. Golden State makes 343.1 passes per game, followed by Chicago’s 332.5.

Oddly enough, four of the teams with the most wins — the Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers — are in the bottom third in total passes.

The Warriors have always passed the ball more than most teams. But that creates more opportunities for turnovers. On brand, 44 percent of their turnovers are errant passes.

No doubt, the 383 turnovers include quite a few coach-killers. The no-rhyme-or-reason decisions. Passes to players who aren’t looking. Telegraphed across the court. Casual and distracted. The Warriors committed 45 turnovers — 18 by Green — trying to thread the needle with passes in tight quarters with small chances of completion.

Plus, the Warriors must exist in a league they created. So just about all teams can switch; have smaller, agile lineups; are stocked with athletic wings; and feature size in the backcourt. Defenses are more capable of trapping Curry (and Butler) and still hustling back to the open players. Their length, athleticism and understanding of the Warriors’ style help defenses prey on weak passes.

It’s why the Warriors look different when Podziemski is producing, or with Spencer running pick-and-roll, or when Hield makes 3s. De’Anthony Melton already appears to be a great fit — again. Because the openings are there. They can cut down turnovers by cutting down on the passivity.

Passes are harder when opponents are playing the lanes and pressuring the ball. Defenses get emboldened when they aren’t afraid of the drive. But the Warriors are short on isolation players and pick-and-roll attackers outside of Curry and Butler. The Warriors rank 26th in pick-and-roll, 26th in transition and 16th in isolation. It’s a team largely relying on getting open through passing and screening. The overreliance on passing shows in some of their unforced errors.

“It’s just different now,” Green said. “We don’t have the same margin of error we used to have. And you feel how people are very excited to play us. So they’re already hype. If you fuel that with live-ball turnovers and fast breaks, their confidence soars. Then it’s a free-for-all.”