Glossary / Steal Percentage (STL%)

What Is Steal Percentage (STL%)?

Steal Percentage is an estimate of the percentage of opponent possessions that end in a steal by a given player while they are on the court. It measures how often a player takes the ball away relative to how many chances they actually had to do it.

Formula

STL% = 100 ×STL × (Tm MP / 5)MP × Opp Poss
STL — The player's own steals
MP — Minutes played by the player
Tm MP — The team's total minutes over that same game or season
Opp Poss — An estimate of the opponent's total possessions over that same span

Worked Example

A player has 2 steals in 32 minutes, in a game where the opponent uses roughly 98 possessions and the team plays 240 total minutes.
STL% = 100 × (2 × 48) / (32 × 98)
STL% = 100 × 96 / 3136
STL% ≈ 3.1%

Typical STL% by Position

Guards generally post higher STL% than bigs, since they spend more time defending the ball and jumping passing lanes. Minutes-weighted averages, 2025-26 season, min. 20 GP.

PG
1.90%
SG
1.73%
SF
1.68%
PF
1.56%
C
1.45%
STL% Leaders

Top 5 in the NBA this season, min. 20 games played.

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STL% FAQ

What is a good Steal Percentage?

STL% varies by position. Minutes-weighted averages this season: PG 1.90%, SG 1.73%, SF 1.68%, PF 1.56%, C 1.45%. Anything above the average for a player's own position is a reasonable bar for good.

Does a high STL% mean a player is a good defender overall?

Not necessarily. A player can be good at spotting passing lanes and playing on the ball, but there are a lot of factors that go into being a good defensive player overall. Playing super aggressive and gambling for steals can also lead to a high STL% while giving up more points, since it takes a defender out of position.

Why do guards usually have higher STL% than centers?

Guards are typically guarding other guards, who bring the ball up and handle it far more than the players centers are matched up against, which gives guards a lot more chances to jump a passing lane or poke the ball loose.

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See It Live

Every player's STL% this season is on the Player Stats page, alongside shooting splits, shot zones, and role-adjusted efficiency.

Related Stats

Often discussed alongside STL%: BLK%, TOV%, REB%.

See how STL% compares against a player's specific role on Role Stats, or browse the rest of the Glossary for more stat breakdowns.