What does pace mean in today’s NBA? How much of a benefit does a team gain by playing at hyperspeed? If you look at the teams currently leading the league in pace, not necessarily very much.
Playing with speed can sometimes cover up a team’s deficiencies in the half-court, but it's impossible to compensate for a lack of overall talent, no matter how hard some teams try. Here are the 10 teams that play the fastest.
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Team Pace (Poessessions Per Game)
Chicago Bulls 104.76
Memphis Grizzlies 104.64
Atlanta Hawks 104.54
Washington Wizards 103.68
Denver Nuggets 101.83
Indiana Pacers 101.14
Dallas Mavericks 101.08
Golden State Warriors 101.04
Cleveland Cavaliers 100.78
Oklahoma City Thunder 100.41
As you can see, the Chicago Bulls play faster than anyone else in the league — and they're pretty bad! This is a massive change in philosophy from Billy Donovan, who hasn't pushed the pace much at all in recent years. Chicago finished last year No. 28 in pace, so the gameplan has changed for the Bulls, who rank No. 11 in offense. That's not horrible, but Chicago doesn't have enough efficient offensive players or balance in its lineup to be an elite unit.
Right now, Memphis is the best team in the pace top five, in large part due to the man usually running those fast breaks, Ja Morant. He's a sensation in the open court (and in the halfcourt too, for what it's worth) so it makes sense that Taylor Jenkins wants his group to run whenever possible.
Last season, Memphis' pace wasn't this fast, in large part because Morant (and pretty much the rest of the team) was sidelined with injury. But in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Memphis was in the top 8 in pace — so this is a return to form for a Grizzlies team looking to show they didn't miss their championship window.
Washington pushes the pace but lost every game in the month of November so it didn't do them much good to run and gun.
Boston comes in at No. 21, Minnesota at No. 24, Orlando at No. 25, showing there isn't much correlation between pushing the pace and actually winning games. Having good shooters, versatile players and a reliable defense is a better recipe than trying to just get in a marathon with your opponent. Last year, Boston won the NBA title with the No. 19 pace, and Denver won it the year before with the sixth-slowest pace in the NBA.
The biggest surprise in this list might be Denver, a team that has been comfortable slowing the pace in recent years. Last year, the Nuggets were No. 26 in pace. In 2022-23, they were No. 24. The two years before that, they were No. 20 and No. 27. Being at No. 5 this season is a complete change in style.
With Nikola Jokic — the most dominant half-court player in the league — slowing down always made sense. He makes magical things happen for himself and others even when the defense is set. Plus, he's been surrounded by shooters so Denver has never really had problems getting open shots.
But losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and adding Russell Westbrook this offseason might have something to do with this change in philosophy. Russ obviously loves to push the tempo; that's where he thrives, and Denver has sort of followed Russ' lead in 2024-25, and it's worked pretty well.
Michael Malone probably realizes his team doesn't have the depth to compete with Boston or OKC based on talent alone, so he's switched up his offensive approach. Will it work in the playoffs? That's to be determined. But it's worth experimenting with in the regular season regardless.
Just because a team gets out and runs doesn't mean it scores efficiently when running. Take Washington, which ranks No. 4 in pace but No. 18 in fastbreak points and last in offensive rating. That's a pretty impressive statistical profile in the worst way possible. Watching the Wizards, you'd believe it, too. They sort of run and hope for the best.
Denver is the No. 1 ranked team in fast break points, and that also makes sense; the aforementioned Russell Westbrook is at his best in the open court, Nikola Jokic is stunningly composed on the break, Peyton Watson and Christian Braun are lob threats and Michael Porter Jr loves flanking out to the 3-point line when the Nuggets run. Seriously, I don't think anyone enjoys taking a fastbreak 3-pointer more than Michael Porter Jr. He's a good enough shooter that you just let him do it and hope it goes in.
Chicago, Memphis, Toronto and Atlanta round out the top five on fastbreak points.
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