In basketball, effective field goal percentage (abbreviated eFG%) is a statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points while field goals only count for two points. Its goal is to show what field goal percentage a two-point shooter would have to shoot at to match the output of a player who also shoots three-pointers.
It is calculated by:
where: FG = field goals made 3P = 3-point field goals made FGA = field goal attempts A common criticism of this formula is that shooters with very high percentage success rates, which favor 3 point shots, would arrive at an eFG\% above 100%.
It can also be calculated by:
where: PPG = points per game FT = the free throws made FGA = field goal attempts
The advantage of this second formula is that it highlights the aforementioned logic behind the statistic, where it is pretended that a player only shot two-point shots (hence the division of non-free-throw points by 2).
An additional formula that seems to be more in use by the statistics actually displayed on websites (but less cited by said websites) is:
where:
2FG = 2-point field goals made
3FG = 3-point field goals made
FGA = field goal attempts
All three equations yield the same result.