For the uninitiated, here's what the fine folks at Basketball Reference have to say about True Shooting Percentage: "True shooting percentage (TS%) is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, three-point field goals, and free throws."
The formula for calculating TS% goes like this: (0.5 x points) / (FGA + 0.475 x FTA). So, y'know, have fun with that.
TS% is a crucial number, so much so that Tyler Gaffney posited in his Claremont College thesis with the snappy title "An Analysis of the Contract Year Phenomenon in the NBA: Do Players Perform Better or Worse" that teams should weigh the stat heavily when deciding a player's salary.
Some of the folks who comprise this early season's top-10 TS% list are already quite content with their bank accounts. Other, probably not as much -- and you can bet if they keep their TS% rolling, they'll bring it into their negotiation session:
| Rank | Player | Team | TS% | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Snell | MIL | .728 | 10.2 |
| 2 | Steven Adams | OKC | .687 | 12.5 |
| 3 | LeBron James | CLE | .680 | 28.8 |
| 4 | Otto Porter Jr. | WAS | .678 | 18.3 |
| 5 | Rudy Gobert | UTA | .669 | 13.9 |
| 6 | Kevin Durant | GS | .662 | 24.8 |
| 7 | Stephen Curry | GS | .659 | 25.7 |
| 8 | James Ennis | MEM | .657 | 9.3 |
| 9 | Aaron Gordon | ORL | .652 | 19.1 |
| 10 | Karl-Anthony Towns | MIN | .645 | 21.8 |
James Ennis will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Just saying.