What is Usage Rating? Basketball stat explainer

Usage Rating (USG%) is a basketball statistic that measures how involved an individual player is within an offense.

The stat provides a comprehensive look at the percentage of possessions that end with a specific player's shot, free throw, or turnover. We'll explain why it matters and how it works within this article.

What is Usage Rating?

Usage Rating takes a specific players' shot attempts, free-throw attempts, and turnovers, adds them together, and divides that number by the player's team's number of possessions.

The resulting number is the player's Usage Rating, and it shows how relied upon the player is to make things happen in his team's offense.

Usually, star players have the highest usage ratings because those players are the ones counted on to score, take risks and make plays for their teammates. The fact the stat does account for turnovers but not for assists is its one main flaw, but that is because a pass does not end a possession and requires another action — a made shot — to become an assist and end the possession in question.

Why is Usage Rating important?

Usage Rating is important for a number of reasons, which change depending on which angle from which a person views a stat.

For an individual player, USG% provides a numerical value to show how involved in the offense that player is. For a team, it shows how balanced (or unbalanced) their offense is. When looking at it from a defensive perspective, it shows teams which opposing players they need to focus on the most.

In a perfectly well-rounded team that balances shots and playmaking duties evenly, every player would have a 20 percent usage rate. That's because there are five players on the floor, and 100 percent divided by five equals 20 percent.

But, that type of balance rarely happens in the NBA, particularly when considering how star-driven the league has become.

How does Usage Rating work?

Analysts will use USG% to evaluate a player's role in an offense and to determine a defensive gameplan for an opponents' most important players.

Let's use the 2016/17 Golden State Warriors as an example. Superstar guard Stephen Curry had a USG% of 30.1 percent, meaning he finished nearly one-third of his team's possessions with either a made basket, missed shot, free-throw attempt, or turnover.

His teammate, power forward Draymond Green, had a USG% of 16.1 percent, just over half of what Curry's was in that season.

Let's break down why that was the case.

For starters, Curry is one of the best offensive players in NBA history. He averaged 25.3 points and shot 41.1 percent from three-point range on 10.8 attempts per game that season, and he averaged 7.2 assists to 3.3 turnovers. Simply put, Curry made good things happen with the ball in his hands more often than not.

Green, on the other hand, is known for his defensive ability. He averaged 10.2 points and shot 30.8 percent from three and 41.8 percent overall. Although his 7.8-2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio was better than Curry's, he provided much less of a scoring threat, which explains why he finished just 16.1 of his team's possessions with a shot, free throw or turnover.

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