True Shooting Percentage and Effective Field Goal Percentage

What it is

• True Shooting Percentage and Effective Field Goal Percentage is a fundamental basketball concept involving two efficiency metrics that fix the flaw in raw field-goal percentage by.
• Raw FG% treats a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer as equal makes, which undervalues shooters who take and make threes; eFG% corrects this.
• TS% goes further by folding in free throws, capturing the full scoring value of a possession spent shooting — the most complete single shooting-efficiency number.

Why it matters

• They extend the shot-quality ideas in "Catch-and-Shoot vs.
• Raw FG% treats a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer as equal makes, which undervalues shooters who take and make threes; eFG% corrects this.
• TS% goes further by folding in free throws, capturing the full scoring value of a possession spent shooting — the most complete single shooting-efficiency number.

How it works

• The 0.5 credits a made three with the half-extra point it's worth relative to a two.
• Both are points-per-opportunity measures scaled to look like a percentage; roughly, league-average TS% sits in the high-50s, so ~58-60%+ is good and 50% or below is poor for a primary scorer.
• TS% eFG% indicates a player draws and converts free throws well; the gap reflects free-throw value.
• They express how many points a player or team produces per scoring opportunity, making shooters of different shot diets directly comparable.

Teaching cues

• Judge scorers by efficiency at their volume, not just point totals — pair TS% with usage to see true value.
• Use eFG% when free throws aren't relevant (e.g., catch-and-shoot looks); use TS% to evaluate overall scoring efficiency.
• Generating free throws is a skill that TS% rewards — attacking the rim and drawing fouls boosts it even on a cold shooting night.

Bilingual terms

Related concepts