Steals tend to be an overrated defensive stat, as many come from being great at gambling on the weak side. Neither of last year’s leaders, Gilgeous-Alexander and Fox, is considered a good one-on-one defender, but they benefit from playing off their teammates’ defensive work.

The Thunder have surrounded Gilgeous-Alexander with great defenders like Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams on the perimeter. That allows SGA to be more aggressive in playing the passing lanes and coming up with steals.

Fox is lightning-quick, and even though the Kings are not nearly as good defensively as the Thunder, he has great instincts on the weak side, jumping in passing lanes.

It is going to be tough for either player to repeat this season, though. For Gilgeous-Alexander, the addition of defensive wizard Alex Caruso might siphon some steal opportunities. Before last season, Fox had never averaged more than 1.6 steals per game, which came back in 2018-19.

There are quite a few candidates who could make a run at the steals title next season. Keep an eye on Dejounte Murray with the New Orleans Pelicans. He will be in a similar situation where he can work on the weak side defensively, as Herb Jones will take on most teams’ primary perimeter players. That should open opportunities for Murray to scoop steals on the weak side.

Dark-horse candidate: New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges will be on a loaded defensive team with OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Bridges can work on the weak side like Gilgeous-Alexander and Fox did last season, which gives him a chance to swoop in for the steals title.