per36

per36, commonly written as "per 36," is a statistical shorthand used primarily in basketball analytics to standardize player performance metrics across different playing times. Because NBA and other leagues allow varying minutes of participation, a raw count of points, rebounds, or assists can be misleading when comparing players who receive disparate playing time. per36 normalizes these raw totals to what a player would statistically produce if they played 36 minutes per game, thereby creating a common scale similar to the historical “per 48 minutes” metric used before the NBA switched to a 48-minute game.

The calculation is straightforward: a player’s per36 figure for any stat is obtained by dividing the raw stat total by the number of minutes played, then multiplying the result by 36. For example, a player who scores 45 points in 90 minutes would have a per36 points total of (45 ÷ 90) × 36 = 18. This method is applied to points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, field‑goal attempts, and other conventional box‑score measurements.

per36 is widely adopted by trade analysts, fantasy basketball participants, and team front‑ends. It allows for evaluating a player's productivity independent of minutes and helps identify undervalued performers or overestimates of high‑usage scorers. However, the metric has drawbacks. It assumes linear performance scaling, ignoring that a player's efficiency may decline or improve at different minutes due to fatigue, defensive matchups, or positional adjustments. Consequently, critics advise using per36 in conjunction with raw data, usage rate, and advanced metrics such as true shooting percentage or player efficiency rating.

Despite these limitations, per36 remains a staple in the analytical toolkit for basketball because it offers a quick, intuitive benchmark for comparing on‑court productivity across the league.