True shooting percentage calculator, with eFG%, FG%, 3P% and FT%

Effective field-goal percentage adds half a field goal for every made three, because a three is worth one and a half times a two. True shooting goes a step further: it compares all the points a player scored with an estimate of the shooting chances used to score them, counting each free-throw attempt as 0.44 of a shot, as Basketball-Reference’s formula does. Effective field-goal percentage ignores free throws entirely.

Basketball-Reference’s glossary illustrates eFG% with two players who each score 10 points from field goals: one goes 4-for-10 with two threes, the other 5-for-10 with none.

Field-goal percentage prefers player B; effective field-goal percentage, correctly, rates them the same.

Now an illustrative line — not a real player — of 10-for-20 shooting with 4-for-9 from three, and 6-for-8 at the free-throw line. That is 30 points from 23.52 true shooting attempts (20 + 0.44 × 8):

• Shot difficulty. A contested pull-up and an open layup count the same; the percentages describe results, not the quality of the looks.
• Volume. A high true shooting percentage on a few attempts says less than a good one on many — efficiency and usage have to be read together.
• The 0.44 weight is an approximation of how many shooting chances free throws represent, not an exact count.
• Anything that is not shooting: passing, defence and rebounding sit outside all of these numbers.

The basketball advanced stats explainer covers the measures that sit alongside these, and the guide to building a balanced roster explains why efficient shooters still need the right teammates.