eFG% Calculator
Definition – What is Effective Field Goal Percentage?
Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%) similar to field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. It puts a player’s number of 3 point field goals into perspective of their field goal attempts.
Where field goal percentage (FG%) measures the ratio of field goals made to field goal attempts (regardless of the value of the basket), eFG% adjusts to compensate for the extra value (as well as extra difficulty) of 3 point shots.
A common criticism of eFG% is that shooters with very high percentage success rates, which favor 3 point shots, would arrive at an eFG% of more than 100%.
Formula – How to calculate eFG%
eFG% = (Field Goals + (0.5 + 3pt Field Goals)) ÷ Field Goal Attempts
Where:
- A “Field Goal” is a 2 or 3 point basket.
- A “3pt Field Goal” is a 3 point basket.
- A “Field Goal Attempt” is an attempt to score a basket. Do not include free throw attempts.
Example
A player has made 240 field goal attempts, an in that time has made a total of 82 field goals, 77 of which were 3 point field goals (3 pointers)
eFG% = (82 + (0.5 x 77)) ÷ 240
eFG% = (82 + 38.5) ÷ 240
eFG% = 120.5 ÷ 240
eFG% = 0.502
Therefore, this player has an eFG% of 0.502, or 50.2%.
Sources and more resources
- Wikipedia – Basketball Statistics, Field Goal (Basketball), Three-point Field Goal (Basketball) – Wikpedia entries on eFG%.
- Glossary entries on eFG% from Sporting Charts and Basketball-Reference.
- Introductions to eFG% from The Score – “Get to Know an Advanced Stat – Effective Field Goal Percentage and True Shooting Percentage”, Escobar on NBA – “Why True Shooting Percentage and Effective Field Goal Percentage Are Wrong (and Why Our Metric Is Right)”, and Breakthrough Basketball – “What is Effective Field Goal Percentage? An Why YOU Should Use It.”
- eFG% statistics from Team Rankings, ESPN – Effective Field Goal Percentage Stats, and Sports Reference.