Last Updated on August 24, 2026 12:30 pm by André Lemos | Published: September 18, 2025

We are in the pace and space era, but as the guys over at Thinking Basketball will tell you, it is now the “pace, space and movement” era. Having adequate shooting and optimal positioning (space) and executing before the defense can react (pace) is complemented by actions that disrupt defensive shells. That might be a timely cut to put pressure on the help, or to drag the help away entirely and create another driving lane. Teams are also embracing the “corner crashers” more to create extra possessions with offensive rebounding.

What is pace and how is it relevant to fantasy basketball? You can say pace is “how fast a team plays,” but that does not entirely encapsulate the actual statistic. The more nuanced definition of pace (via NBAstuffer) is “the number of possessions a team uses in a game.” Another way of putting it (via NBA.com) is “the number of possessions per 48 minutes for a team or player.”

Pace is therefore relevant for fantasy basketball because a team that typically has more possessions has more opportunities for stat-creating actions that help our fantasy teams. Of course, the team still has to be able to convert those extra possessions into stats with proper execution.

One thing I failed to note in my prior versions of this article was that a team can “play very fast,” but not necessarily have the highest pace or the most possessions. This applies to the Pacers, who are one of the top teams when it comes to pace and you might even think that no one plays faster than them. They do play fast, but they will also hunt relentlessly for the best shot. Sometimes, “playing fast” for the Pacers would mean having three or four fast-hitting actions woven together one after the other until the defense in unable to keep up. However, despite the team playing fast in reality, that is a longer possession statistically. What I am saying is that they do play fast and will have a high pace metric, but even if we perceive them as the “fastest team” they may not have the most possessions per game.

A team’s defense will also factor into their pace. If your team forces a lot of turnovers like the defending champs, the Thunder, they will have more opportunities to score quickly in transition and obviously have more possessions as well. Another team’s defense may tend to grind you down over the course of a possession, making sharp rotations and keeping the ball contained until an opponent is forced to put up a tough, contested look. Some lottery teams may either offer little resistance on defense or take a lot of gambles, both being aspects that could impact their pace.

I am not here to tell you whether a higher pace is better for NBA success. You will see that there are good teams at the top and the bottom of pace. This piece is geared toward fantasy basketball, and with that in mind, I am making some additions this year.

First, we have a table showing the 2024-25 data on pace, offensive rating, defensive rating, net rating and each of the nine fantasy categories. My aim is to examine the link between pace and each of our nine fantasy categories.

After, we will review my predictions from the 2024-25 season to see what I got right and what I can learn for this year’s edition.

Finally, I will review the 2024-25 pace data alongside the offseason changes in each team’s roster and coaching, so we can establish new pace expectations in 2025-26 and figure out the most fantasy-friendly teams.

Pace & Fantasy Stats

The table is color-coded, so the top 10 in any column is green, then the 11-to-20 range is blue and the 21-to-30 range is purplish. The league average is in black. You can sort each individual column, but be careful, as the auto-indexing (left-most column) only works from 1 to 30 whether or not it is in ascending or descending order. I will provide clarity in my discussion of the data afterward.

Fantasy Basketball
Takeaways

Top 10 in Pace

POINTS
7 Teams Top 10 in Points Per Game.
1 Team Top 11 to 20 in Points Per Game.
2 Teams Top 21 to 30 in Points Per Game.

Don’t miss out on a deeper look at the link between Pace & Fantasy Stats, or Keston’s 2024-25 Pace Review & his 2025-26 Pace Predictions! You’ll need to have an NBA FantasyPass membership or purchase the Draft Guide. Click here to learn more and sign up!
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