§ Basketball stats guide
Basketball statistics,
explained.
A plain-English guide for commissioners, coaches, and curious fans. What every box-score line means, how to read efficiency metrics, and which numbers actually predict winning.
Basketball statistics fall into five layers — from raw box-score counts to possession-aware ratings to the four factors that predict winning. This guide walks all five, with links into the full ArcStat glossary for formulas and worked examples.
Looking for a quick reference instead? See the basketball stats abbreviations cheat sheet — every box-score abbreviation in one table.
The box score basics
Every basketball line starts here — the raw counting stats that show up in every box score. They are simple, universal, and where every conversation about a player's game begins.
Shooting efficiency
Raw FG% under-credits players who shoot threes and over-credits players who never get to the line. These four metrics fix that, in increasing order of completeness.
- FG%Field Goal Percentage
- 3P%Three-Point Percentage
- FT%Free Throw Percentage
- eFG%Effective Field Goal Percentage
- TS%True Shooting Percentage
- FT/FGAFree Throw Rate
Quick rule: TS% is the most honest single-number shooting metric for any scorer who shoots threes or gets to the line.
All-around impact
These metrics try to summarize an entire game (or season) in a single number — combining scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defense, and ball control.
No single-number metric is perfect. PER over a full season is more reliable than +/- in one game; +/- across a full season is more reliable than PER in one game. Use them as triangulation, not gospel.
Possession-aware metrics
A team that scores 100 points in 110 possessions is dramatically less efficient than one that scores 100 in 80. Pace-adjusted metrics control for that gap and let you compare teams that play different styles.
The four factors
Dean Oliver's four factors are the cleanest framework for "what predicts winning?" — shooting efficiency, ball control, offensive rebounding, and getting to the free-throw line. Master these and the rest of basketball analytics rhymes with them.
Frequently asked
What are the most important basketball stats?
For team strength, the four factors (eFG%, TOV%, offensive rebound rate, free-throw rate) explain most of why teams win or lose. For players, points per game gets headlines but true shooting percentage (TS%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (AST/TO) are far more honest signals of efficiency. Combine PPG with TS% to separate volume scorers from efficient stars.
What does +/- mean in basketball?
Plus-minus is the team's point differential while a player is on the floor. If your team outscored the opponent by 8 points during your minutes, you are +8 for that game. Raw plus-minus is noisy in single games — a bench player on a great team can post a high +/- without driving it — but useful in aggregate over a full season.
How is PER calculated?
Player Efficiency Rating rewards positive box-score actions (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) and subtracts negative ones (missed shots, turnovers, missed free throws). The simplified per-game variant — sometimes called "Efficiency" — is: (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − missed FGs − missed FTs − TO) / GP. The full Hollinger PER also pace-adjusts and contextualizes by team.
What is true shooting percentage?
True Shooting Percentage (TS%) measures shooting efficiency across two-pointers, three-pointers, and free throws on a single 0–100 scale. It answers "for every shot attempt, how many points did this player generate?" Formula: PTS / (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA)) × 100. A TS% of 60% is elite; below 50% from a high-volume scorer is a red flag.
Where can I track these stats for my own basketball league?
ArcStat is built for exactly this. Free tier covers a typical 8-team barangay or corporate league with full NBA-grade box scores. Advanced metrics (TS%, eFG%, PER, USG%, AST/TO) ship on the Pro tier. See arcstat.app/basketball-league-software.
Track these stats for your league
ArcStat is basketball league software built for commissioners who care about getting these metrics right. The Free tier covers full NBA-grade box scores; advanced metrics (TS%, eFG%, PER, USG%, AST/TO) ship on the Pro tier with formulas and leaderboards.
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