How We Measure Value

Value on the Floor, or VOTF, is our proprietary player valuation. It’s built from advanced statistics and playing role, and it puts a player’s basketball contribution on the same scale as salary.

That shared scale is the point. You can compare a player’s Value with his contract, or compare the talent two teams have available in the same game.

Every player’s Value comes from three steps. We don’t publish the formula, but here’s what goes into it.

2.1Assess basketball impact

We combine advanced offensive and defensive statistics to judge how a player contributes to team success. Points, rebounds and assists are useful, but they miss a lot of what happens on the floor. The model looks beyond the basic box score.

2.2Account for playing role

Impact matters alongside opportunity. A player contributing across a big share of a game carries different value than someone filling a brief role. We account for playing time and pace, and lean on established role evidence early in the season, when samples are small. Games that look cut short by injury are handled carefully so they don’t distort a player’s normal role.

2.3Put it on the NBA salary scale

Our accounting rule: total modeled Value must equal the real NBA salary total for the same season and salary basis. We redistribute that total according to each player’s contribution.

The real total can move as contracts change or salary data improves, so every snapshot rebalances against the latest figure.

NBA contracts have rules that limit what individual players can earn. Basketball contribution doesn’t stop at that limit.

So a player’s Value can sit above his salary, including above the maximum contract. The model applies its own bounds to keep the distribution controlled. It doesn’t turn every great stretch into unlimited dollars.

Salary

The player’s annual contract amount, on our stated salary basis.

Value

The annual dollar valuation our model assigns to his basketball contribution when he plays his established role.

Surplus

Value minus salary. Positive means his Value exceeds his salary. Negative means it falls short.

On a game page, salary and Value are annual roster amounts less reported absences. They aren’t the team’s paycheck for one game.

A valuable player can still be unavailable. For each game’s floor comparison, we use the roster and game-linked availability data to remove players listed Out, Out For Season or Doubtful.

Money on the floor

Roster salary less reported absences.

Value on the floor

Roster Value less reported absences.

The difference

Whether that team's floor is valued above or below its cost.

A player’s Value describes his contribution when he plays his role. It doesn’t fall just because he missed games.

Delivered value adds availability by adjusting for the share of regular-season games he played. Expected delivered value applies his observed availability over the historical window shown. That history puts missed games in context. It isn’t an injury prediction.

Before any current-season regular-season games are played, current delivered value stays unavailable.

7.1Updates and history

Player values refresh nightly. New games, role changes, updated salary information and model revisions can all change the next snapshot. Each board shows its season and snapshot date.

For games with a recorded pre-tip floor, totals freeze at tip-off. A player’s season valuation on a historical page isn’t his exact value entering that specific game.

Comparing across seasons also means accounting for the changing NBA salary scale.

7.2Missing information

Some players have no verified salary. We show Salary unavailable and leave surplus blank rather than assigning a $0 contract. League injury totals include games with complete coverage. A team payroll with missing salaries is shown as a known payroll with its salary coverage until the full real total is established.

VOTF is a proprietary valuation built from basketball data. It puts contribution and salary on one scale, and that’s useful. It also has limits.

• ✕Not an official NBA statisticIt’s our model, not the league’s.
• ✕Not a contract forecastIt doesn’t predict what anyone will sign for next.
• ✕Not a guaranteeIt doesn’t promise future performance or how a game turns out.

Use it alongside the basketball context that makes each player and game different.