Effective Field Goal Percentage (EFG%) is a basketball stat that is rising in popularity as it measures not only how accurately a player shoots the ball, but also the number of points a player's shot is worth.
Fans may wonder how it is calculated and how it differs from standard Field Goal Percentage. We discuss all of that and more in this article.
What is Effective Field Goal Percentage?
Effective Field Goal Percentage is a basketball statistic that measures a player's shooting accuracy while taking into account that a three-point made shot is worth more than a two-point made shot.
How does Effective Field Goal Percentage work?
While standard Field Goal Percentage takes a player's number of made shots and divides it by shot attempts, EFG% multiplies the player's number of three-point makes by 1.5, adds that to the number of two-point makes, and divides that figure by the number of shots taken by the player.
The resulting number is the player's Effective Field Goal Percentage.
The reason why the number of three-pointers made is multiplied by 1.5 is because three is 1.5 times two.
Why is Effective Field Goal Percentage important?
Effective Field Goal Percentage is important for judging players based on the number of points their shots produce, as well as how accurate the player is at shooting.
For example, centers often have the highest field goal percentages because they play close to the basket and therefore shoot high-percentage shots more often.
Meanwhile, a three-point specialist who plays further from the basket will almost always have a lower field goal percentage than any given center, but FG% does not account for the fact that many of the distance shooter's baskets are worth more than the center's because a three-pointer is worth more than a two-pointer.
That's where EFG% comes in.
Let's use the famous 2015/16 Golden State Warriors team that went 73-9 as an example. In terms of standard FG%, interior players Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli led the team at 62.7 percent and 54.8 percent, respectively.
But when using EFG% to account for the fact that superstar guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson made plenty of threes, Curry moves up from sixth on the team in FG% to the top of the list in EFG% and Thompson moves from ninth in FG% to third in EFG%.
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