NBA.com/Stats Frequently Asked Questions

What are advanced stats?

Advanced Stats are a way to study basketball through objective analysis. It is a more in-depth way to look at a simple box score, and more accurately evaluates the skill and production of a player or team.

Are your statistics available for download, or in CSV form?

Our stats are not available for download for either academic or personal use. They are for viewing and enjoying on NBA.com/Stats

My favorite player, ________, is currently the best in the league for________. Why isn’t he on your Official League Leaders Page?

There are strict qualifications to become an Official Leader of the statistic, and it has to do with the amount of time they have played in that season, as well as their proficiency in that stat. The qualifications for Official Leaders can be found here.

When will Stats Video be available for last night’s game?

Stats Video is usually available 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game. Please check our Video Status page to see if the video is currently Available / Unavailable.

How far back does your data go?

Our advanced stats go back to the 1996-97 season; however our base stats go back to the inaugural 1946-47 season. Every box score has been digitized and those go back to the 1946-47 season as well. Our lineup data goes back to 2008. Certain stats were not recorded from the beginning of the NBA. Here’s a list of years when some base stats began being recorded:

Rebounds: 1950-1951Minutes: 1951-1952Games Started: 1970-1971
Steals: 1973-1974Blocks: 1973-1974Off Rebounds: 1973-1974
Def Rebounds: 1973-1974Turnovers: 1977-19783 Point Field Goals: 1979-1980

What is Player Tracking?

Using cameras installed in the catwalks of every NBA arena, Second Spectrum software tracks the movements of every player on the court and the basketball 25 times per second. Please see our Player Tracking page for more info.

What is PIE?

It is a simple metric that gives an excellent indication of performance at both the team and player level. It’s a major improvement to our EFF Rating. Notably 2 things changed: (1) We included Personal Fouls, (2) We added a denominator. We feel the key here is the denominator because it acts as an "automatic equalizer". Using the denominator, we find there is no need to consider the "PACE" of the statistics that are being analyzed.In its simplest terms, PIE shows what % of game events did that player or team achieve.The stats being analyzed are your traditional basketball statistics (PTS, REB, AST, TOV, etc..) A team that achieves more than 50% is likely to be a winning team. A player that achieves more than 10% is likely to be better than the average player. A high PIE % is highly correlated to winning. In fact, a team’s PIE rating and a team’s winning percentage correlate at an R square of .908 which indicates a "strong" correlation. We’ve introduced this statistic because we feel it incorporates a bit of defense into the equation. When a team misses a shot, all 5 players on the other team’s PIE rating goes up. The formula for PIE can be found here in the Glossary.

How quickly does the site update with statistics?

A player or team’s base statistics are updated simultaneously with the game and in real time. The advanced stats are updated between 10-15 minutes after a game finishes.

Why are the Four Factors important?

There are four important advanced statistics that winning teams excel at. These factors are Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%), Turnover Ratio (TO Ratio), Offensive Rebound Percentage (OREB%), and Free Throw Attempt Rate (FTA Rate). eFG% measures field goal percentage adjusting for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal. The formula is eFG% = ((FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA.TO Ratio is the number of turnovers a player or team averages per 100 possessions used. Highlights good scorers who infrequently pass the ball (i.e. Players who typically catch and shoot.) The formula is (TO * 100) / (FGA + (FTA * 0.44) + AST + TO.OREB% is the percentage of team offensive rebounds grabbed by a player or team. The formula for finding this is OREB / (OREB + OppDREB).This eliminates a player or team’s inflated rebound numbers if the team misses a lot of shots. Free Throw Attempt Rate shows free throws attempted relative to field goals attempted by a player or team. FTA Rate shows how often a player or team goes to the line, and how good that individual is at drawing fouls. The formula is simply FTA/FGA.

What is PACE? What does PACE tell fans besides the speed of the game?

Each team plays at a faster or slower pace, thus inflating or deflating player and team statistics. It is important to look at stats at a per possession level, rather than simply looking at points scored per game.

The average NBA team plays at a Pace of a little more than 94 possessions. At the top of the league sits the Houston Rockets, a fast break team, nearing a Pace of 99 possessions. The Rockets score on average about 106.5 points per game, and have an Offensive Rating of about 107. One of the slower teams is the New York Knicks, who like the grind it out in the half court, and play at a pace of about 92.5 possessions. They score on average about 98.5 points per game, but because they play slower, their Offensive Rating is also about 107. This shows that although the Knicks play slower and score fewer points than the Rockets, they have similarly effective offenses (stats as of 3/19/2013):

PacePoints Per GameOff Rating
League Average94.4398102.9
Houston Rockets98.76106.5107.1
New York Knicks92.5398.7106.9

Where can I find the "Combined PTS, AST + REB" statistic?

The statistic representing the combined PTS+REB+AST is currently unavailable

Where can I find All-Time records for the League, or individual teams? (longest winning streak/losing streak in NBA, or per Team history, etc)

The NBA Stats team is planning on adding these records to the website in the near future. As of right now, you can view All-Time Leaders under the Player Stats tab. Base stats are shown at a Total, Per Game, and Per 48 level. Check back often to see if more has been added.

Are you planning on including coaching statistics?

The NBA Stats team is currently exploring options regarding displaying coaching statistics. While unavailable at this time, please check back often to see if they have been added.

Why does the ranking change when selecting a stat from the dropdown versus clicking on header and sorting in descending order?

When clicking on the header and sorting in descending order, you are sorting highest to lowest of all qualified leaders of the stat chosen in the dropdown. For example, if you were looking at Rebounds Leaders and clicked on "FT%", this would now be sorted as the highest FT% of qualified rebounds leaders, potentially leaving some high FT% players out. To get the correct sorting, it is best to use the dropdown and select the stat.

Are there statistics from the ABA on the site?

For now, we do not include ABA stats. The NBA Stats team is currently exploring options regarding displaying these. While unavailable at this time, please check back often to see if they have been added.