True Shooting Percentage Calculator

True Shooting Percentage (TS%) is one of the most important efficiency metrics in modern basketball analytics. Unlike traditional field goal percentage or even three-point percentage, TS% captures a player's overall scoring efficiency across all three methods of scoring: two-point field goals, three-point field goals, and free throws.

The metric was designed to answer a simple but powerful question: how efficiently does a player convert their scoring opportunities into actual points? A player who draws a lot of fouls and converts free throws at a high rate may look inefficient by FG% alone, yet be highly effective in terms of points produced per attempt. TS% corrects for this by folding free throw attempts into the denominator using the widely accepted 0.44 correction factor.

The 0.44 factor (sometimes called the free throw weight) accounts for the fact that a pair of free throws represents roughly 0.88 of a "true" possession — since and-one situations, technical free throws, and front-end misses of two-shot fouls all reduce the effective weight of each individual free throw attempt below 0.5. Using 0.44 has become the industry standard in basketball analytics and is used by the NBA, ESPN, and Basketball-Reference.

TS% is particularly valuable for comparing players who have different shooting profiles. A center who rarely attempts threes but is lethal in the paint and earns frequent trips to the foul line can be compared fairly against a perimeter shooter whose production comes almost entirely from three-pointers. Both will have their full scoring contribution captured in a single, comparable number.

Calculating TS% is straightforward once you have a player's points, field goal attempts, and free throw attempts. Follow these three steps:

1. Multiply FTA by 0.44 to find the free-throw component of total shooting opportunities.
2. Add FGA to that product to get the total true shot attempts (TSA).
3. Divide Points by (2 × TSA) — the multiplication by 2 normalizes the metric so that a player who converts exactly half of their two-point looks would register 50%, consistent with intuitions about average scoring.

The intermediate value Points per True Attempt (PPTA = Points ÷ TSA) is also informative: it tells you directly how many points a player generates for each possession-equivalent used, without the normalization factor. A PPTA of 1.10 means the player produces 1.10 points per true attempt, which translates to a TS% of 55.0%.

This calculator computes both figures automatically. Enter your points, field goal attempts, and free throw attempts to get instant results along with a contextual rating.

Understanding where a TS% value falls on the performance spectrum helps coaches, analysts, and fans contextualize a player's shooting efficiency. The following benchmarks reflect NBA-level standards and are widely used in basketball analysis:

These thresholds are calibrated for NBA competition. College, high school, and international players often score lower TS% values due to lower field goal and free throw percentages; adjust expectations accordingly. The NBA's league-average TS% has generally ranged between 54% and 57% in recent seasons as three-point shooting has become more prevalent.

Basketball has several shooting efficiency statistics, and understanding how TS% differs from each helps you choose the right metric for the right question.

Field Goal Percentage (FG%) simply divides made field goals by attempts. It completely ignores free throws and treats a two-pointer and a three-pointer as equal, which can produce misleading comparisons. A player who shoots 45% on two-pointers with no free throws is being judged the same as one who shoots 45% on threes — yet the latter generates 50% more points per made shot.

Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%) improves on FG% by giving extra weight to made three-pointers using the formula eFG% = (FGM + 0.5 × 3PM) / FGA. This accounts for the extra value of the three-pointer but still omits free throws entirely.

True Shooting Percentage goes one step further by incorporating free throws. It is the most comprehensive single-number measure of shooting efficiency available. For players like dominant big men who rarely attempt threes but frequently get to the foul line, TS% will be substantially higher than eFG%, correctly reflecting their true offensive value.

When analyzing a player's offensive contribution, TS% is generally the preferred metric because it captures all three scoring methods in one number. eFG% remains useful when you specifically want to evaluate field-goal shooting without the free throw dimension, such as when comparing shot selection quality between possessions.

True Shooting Percentage has become a cornerstone of basketball front-office analysis, coaching, and fantasy basketball evaluation. Here are the most common applications:

• Player evaluation and comparison: TS% provides a clean way to compare scorers across eras and playing styles, useful for draft scouting, trade analysis, and contract valuation.
• In-season adjustments: Coaches use TS% trends to identify players who are struggling with shot selection or free throw shooting before broader statistical slumps become apparent.
• Fantasy basketball: TS% is a strong predictor of a player's scoring contribution per roster spot, particularly in categories leagues that include FG% and FT%.
• Historical comparisons: Because the formula is stable over time, TS% can meaningfully compare players from different eras of basketball.

Despite its strengths, TS% has limitations worth noting. It is purely an efficiency metric — it says nothing about scoring volume. A player averaging 8 points per game could theoretically have a higher TS% than a 30-point-per-game scorer, yet the high-volume scorer may be more valuable. For this reason, analysts often pair TS% with usage rate (USG%) to get a fuller picture of offensive contribution. Additionally, TS% does not account for shot difficulty; a player who only takes wide-open corner threes will naturally have a higher TS% than one who frequently creates off the dribble in isolation.