pergame

Per-game, or per-game rate, is a statistical concept used to express an average value earned or achieved in each game played. It normalizes cumulative statistics by the number of games, allowing comparisons across players or teams that have participated in different numbers of games. The standard calculation is total_statistic divided by games_played; if games_played is zero, the per-game value is undefined.

Common examples include points per game (PPG), assists per game (APG), and rebounds per game (RPG) in basketball, as well as goals per game or points per game in other sports. In data sets, the metric may be labeled as per_game, per_game_points, or ppg. Per-game figures are widely reported in box scores, player profiles, and sports analytics dashboards.

Purpose and use: per-game metrics facilitate cross-player or cross-season comparisons by normalizing for game count. They help assess performance when players miss games due to injury, rest, or different schedules. However, per-game values can reflect not only skill but also pace of play and minutes logged; players who accumulate more minutes often have higher per-game totals even if efficiency is lower. To address this, analysts consult alternatives such as per-minute, per-36 minutes, or per-90-minute statistics, which adjust for playing time and pace.

Limitations: per-game averages can be volatile with small sample sizes and may obscure performance variability across games. They do not capture quality of opposition, game context, or efficiency, and they can be misleading if minutes played differ substantially between players or teams.

Example: A player with 600 points over 40 games averages 15.0 points per game.