True Shooting Percentage Explained (TS% Formula)

True shooting percentage measures how efficiently a player scores across every kind of attempt — 2-pointers, 3-pointers, and free throws — folded into one number. Plain field goal percentage misses two things: it treats a 3-pointer as worth no more than a 2, and it ignores free throws entirely. True shooting fixes both, which is why it is the go-to efficiency stat in modern basketball. A player at .620 TS% is scoring far more efficiently than the same field goal percentage would suggest if they also shoot 3s and get to the line.

The formula

True shooting divides points by an estimate of total scoring possessions:

TS% = PTS ÷ (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA))

• PTS = total points
• FGA = field goal attempts (2s and 3s combined)
• FTA = free throw attempts
• 0.44 = an estimate of how many possessions each free-throw attempt consumes

The factor of two in the denominator is what scales the result to look like a shooting percentage. The 0.44 is the clever part: most foul trips are two free throws, but and-ones, technical fouls, and three-shot fouls pull the average number of attempts per possession slightly below one half, so 0.44 is the league-wide best estimate rather than a clean 0.5.

A worked example

Take a scorer with 1,800 points on 1,250 field goal attempts and 350 free throw attempts.

• Free-throw possessions: 0.44 × 350 = 154
• Scoring attempts: 1,250 + 154 = 1,404
• Denominator: 2 × 1,404 = 2,808
• TS%: 1,800 ÷ 2,808 = .641

That .641 is elite — well above the league average of roughly .570. Notice that this figure captures the free throws and 3-point value that a raw field goal percentage would have hidden. A player scoring the same points purely on midrange 2s would show a much lower true shooting number, because those buckets are worth less per attempt.

What counts as a good TS%

League-average true shooting in the modern NBA sits around .570 to .580, lifted over the years by the rise of the 3-pointer.

TS%	Rating
.650 and up	Historically elite
.620 to .649	Elite for a high-volume scorer
.580 to .619	Very good
.560 to .579	Roughly league average
.540 to .559	Below average
Below .540	Poor

Context matters. A rim-running center who mostly dunks can post a gaudy TS% on easy looks, while a guard creating his own shots off the dribble faces a harder path to the same figure. That is why true shooting is most revealing when read next to how much of the offense a player shoulders.

Why volume changes the picture

True shooting is a pure rate — it says nothing about how many shots a player takes. A reserve can post a .650 TS% on five easy attempts a game, which is not the same as a star carrying 25 shots a night at .600. To judge efficiency against responsibility, pair TS% with usage rate, which measures how much of the offense runs through a player. High usage and high true shooting is the mark of a genuine offensive engine.

For the simpler efficiency stat that adjusts for 3-pointers but leaves out free throws, see effective field goal percentage. For the all-in per-minute rating that folds efficiency together with everything else, read our explainer on player efficiency rating. And to see the scorers who post these numbers at the highest level, the greatest NBA players is full of them, while the highest-scoring NBA game shows what happens when efficiency and volume peak at once.

Bottom line: true shooting is points over twice the sum of field goal attempts and 0.44 free throw attempts — the one number that credits 3s and free throws fairly, with .570 average and .620-plus elite.