Player Efficiency Rating (PER) condenses a basketball player’s entire box score into a single per-minute number, weighting positive actions like scoring and rebounding against negative ones like missed shots and turnovers.
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This calculator uses the well-documented simplified, unadjusted version of the formula — the same weighted box-score components John Hollinger’s system is built on, without the league-wide pace and average adjustments that require full-season league data.
For bettors researching player props, this gives a fast, component-by-component view of exactly what’s driving a player’s efficiency in a given game or stretch of games.
📊 How to Use the PER Calculator
Enter the player’s Minutes Played along with their full box score line: field goals, 3-pointers, free throws, rebounds split by offensive and defensive, assists, steals, blocks, fouls, and turnovers.
This calculator produces an unadjusted PER — it is not normalized against league averages the way official Hollinger PER is, so treat it as a relative efficiency signal, not an exact league-wide figure.
The results panel shows the final per-minute rating alongside a plain-language band, plus a full table of every stat’s individual weighted contribution.
🔢 Calculator Fields Explained
Minutes Played – The total minutes the player was on the court, used as the denominator for the final rating.
Field Goals Made/Attempted – Total made and attempted shots from the field, including both 2s and 3s.
3-Pointers Made – Made three-point shots, weighted separately since they carry a higher efficiency value.
Free Throws Made/Attempted – Made and attempted free throws.
Offensive/Defensive Rebounds – Rebounds split by type, since offensive boards carry a higher weight in the formula.
Assists, Steals, Blocks – Standard positive box-score counting stats.
Personal Fouls, Turnovers – Standard negative counting stats that reduce the final rating.
💰 Understanding the Results
| Result Field | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Unadjusted PER | The final per-minute efficiency score before league-average normalization |
| Rating Band | A plain-language label (Poor to Elite) for quickly interpreting the number |
| Component Contribution | Each stat’s individual weighted point value before summing and dividing by minutes |
The contribution table is the most useful part of this output, since it isolates exactly which stats are pulling a player’s rating up or down.
Missed field goals and missed free throws are heavily penalized in this formula — a high-volume, low-efficiency scoring line can actually produce a below-average rating.
A player can score 25 points on poor shooting efficiency and still post a below-average PER once missed shots are weighted in. Volume alone doesn’t guarantee a strong rating.
📐 Calculation Formulas
| Stat | Weight |
|---|---|
| Field Goals Made | × 85.910 |
| Steals | × 53.897 |
| 3-Pointers Made | × 51.757 |
| Free Throws Made | × 46.845 |
| Blocks / Offensive Rebounds | × 39.190 each |
| Assists | × 34.677 |
| Defensive Rebounds | × 14.707 |
| Fouls | × -17.174 |
| Missed Free Throws | × -20.091 |
| Missed Field Goals / Turnovers | × -39.190 / -53.897 |
All weighted components are summed and then divided by minutes played to produce the final per-minute unadjusted PER figure.
Because this version skips league-average normalization, the raw number will typically run somewhat differently from a published, officially adjusted PER for the same game.
📝 Practical Examples
Example 1 – Efficient all-around game: 34 minutes, 9-of-17 shooting, 2 threes, 4-of-5 free throws, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 fouls, 3 turnovers. This produces an unadjusted PER of roughly 21.5, landing in the Elite band.
Example 2 – High volume, poor efficiency: 36 minutes, 8-of-22 shooting, 1 three, 3-of-4 free throws, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 3 fouls, 4 turnovers. This produces a rating of roughly 8.7, landing in the Below Average band despite heavy shot volume.
Two players with similar scoring totals can land in completely different efficiency bands purely based on shooting accuracy and turnovers.
Example 3 – Defensive-focused stat line: 30 minutes, 4-of-7 shooting, 0 threes, 2-of-2 free throws, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 2 fouls, 1 turnover. This produces a rating of roughly 24.8, landing well into the Elite band despite modest scoring.
Steals and blocks are weighted heavily enough that a strong defensive stat line can outproduce a modest scoring line entirely. PER isn’t purely a scoring-volume metric.
💡 Tips & Best Practices
Look at the component breakdown, not just the final number, to understand whether a rating is being driven by scoring, playmaking, or defensive activity.
Use PER alongside shooting efficiency stats like true shooting percentage, since a poor shooting night can drag PER down even with a high point total.
Remember this calculator’s figure is unadjusted — treat it as directionally useful for comparing stat lines, not as an exact match to published season-long PER figures.
- Compare a player’s game-level unadjusted PER against their own recent average rather than a league-wide benchmark
- Pair a low PER performance with minutes played context, since foul trouble or blowout garbage time can distort a single game’s line
Comparing a player against their own recent baseline is consistently more useful for prop betting than comparing raw PER across different players.
Finally, treat PER as one efficiency signal among several, not as a standalone predictor of a player’s next-game statistical output.
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
Treating this as official, league-normalized PER
The published PER figures widely cited for NBA players are adjusted for league pace and average scoring, which this simplified calculator does not include.
Comparing this calculator’s unadjusted output directly against a published official PER figure can produce a misleading, apples-to-oranges comparison.
Use this tool to compare stat lines against each other consistently, not as a substitute for official season-long league data.
Ignoring minutes played context
A very low minutes total combined with a couple of highly efficient plays can produce an inflated, unrepresentative per-minute rating.
Ignoring a small minutes-played sample when interpreting a high PER figure is one of the costliest misreadings of this metric.
A short, hot stretch of minutes can inflate PER dramatically compared to a full, representative game sample. Always check the minutes total alongside the rating itself.
🎯 When to Use This Calculator
Use this calculator when analyzing a player’s recent box score lines for prop betting research, comparing efficiency across different stat lines, or understanding which specific stats are driving a given performance’s overall rating.
The final rating matters less than understanding exactly which stats built it.
🔗 Related Calculators
True Shooting Percentage Calculator, Passer Rating Calculator, OPS Calculator, ERA Calculator, Correlation Calculator
📖 Glossary
PER – Player Efficiency Rating, a per-minute measure combining weighted box-score stats into a single efficiency number.
Unadjusted PER (uPER) – The raw, per-minute version of PER before league-average pace normalization is applied.
True Shooting Percentage – A shooting efficiency metric that accounts for the different point values of 2s, 3s, and free throws.
Box Score – The full set of individual statistical counting categories recorded for a player in a game.
Player Prop – A wager on an individual player’s statistical performance rather than the game’s outcome.
Pace Adjustment – A normalization step accounting for how many possessions a team plays, omitted from this simplified formula.
Turnover – A loss of possession without a shot attempt, weighted negatively in the PER formula.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as the official NBA PER stat?
No, official PER includes league-average and pace adjustments that require full-season league-wide data this calculator doesn’t have access to.
This tool uses the well-documented simplified weighted formula, which is directionally consistent but not numerically identical to the officially adjusted figure.
What counts as a good PER?
Using this simplified scale, above 15 is generally considered good, above 20 is elite, and below 7 is considered poor.
For reference, an average NBA rotation player’s official season-long PER typically lands close to 15.
Why are missed shots weighted so heavily?
The formula penalizes missed field goals and missed free throws specifically because a missed shot ends a possession without any positive value.
High shot volume without accuracy can actually lower a player’s PER once missed attempts are properly weighted against makes.
This is why an inefficient high-volume scorer can post a lower rating than a more efficient lower-volume teammate.
Does PER account for defense fully?
It includes steals and blocks, but it doesn’t capture other defensive value like contesting shots, defensive positioning, or forcing tough attempts that don’t show up in the box score.
PER is fundamentally a box-score metric, so any defensive value not captured statistically is simply invisible to the formula.
Can PER be negative?
Yes, in extreme cases — a very poor shooting night combined with heavy turnovers and fouls can produce a negative unadjusted rating.
This is rare in practice but demonstrates just how heavily the formula penalizes inefficient, turnover-prone performances.
⚖️ Legal Disclaimer
This calculator is provided for educational and informational purposes only, using a publicly documented simplified statistical formula. It does not guarantee any specific betting outcome. Please gamble responsibly.
Hold up, this calculator doesn’t adjust for league pace or defensive quality? That’s a massive gap. You could have a player putting up decent numbers against the Pistons bench unit and the PER would look the same as someone doing it against the Celtics starters. The examples show 21.5 as Elite but I’ve seen guys hit that in garbage time blowouts. Until this factors in opponent strength and actual pace of play, I’m not trusting it for prop research. Show me the unadjusted vs adjusted Hollinger numbers side-by-side on a real game first.
You’ve identified the exact trade-off we made here, and it’s worth being transparent about. The simplified unadjusted PER trades predictive power for speed and accessibility. You’re absolutely right that pace normalization matters—a player scoring efficiently in a 100-possession game looks different than the same efficiency in a 95-possession game. And opponent defense definitely shifts whether 21.5 PER is genuinely elite or inflated. What this calculator does well is give you a consistent component-by-component breakdown within a single player’s season or stretch, so you can isolate what changed game-to-game. If a player’s PER drops from 18 to 12, you can immediately see whether it’s turnovers spiking, missed shots increasing, or assist rate falling. For prop betting specifically, that isolation is valuable. That said, your instinct about garbage time is sound. Cross-reference this with the actual score differential and bench usage before treating a high PER as predictive of next-game output. The Hollinger-adjusted version (available at ESPN or Basketball-Reference) does include pace and strength-of-schedule, so running a game through both calculators would give you that side-by-side comparison you mentioned.