Stats explained · WS

Win Shares (WS)

Win Shares split a team's wins among its players. The idea comes from Bill James and his 2002 baseball book Win Shares; basketball versions use the same idea with formulas of their own.

All stats

The formula

All Win Shares of a team = 3 × its wins (Bill James's version)

Basketball versions use their own formulas and scales. In James's system one Win Share is a third of a win: a team that wins 80 games shares 240 Win Shares among its players.1

What it tells you

How much of a team's success a player's numbers stand for, in one total for the season.

What it does not

It is an estimate built from statistics and team wins, not a count of real wins, and by definition no player can have negative Win Shares1. Versions differ, so compare Win Shares only within one source.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Win Shares (version of 1 September 2026), CC BY-SA 4.0 checked 21 October 2026

Checked on 20 October 2026, unless a source has its own date. Wikipedia content is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; we take single numbers and facts from the versions linked above and say where a number is our own calculation. Spotted a mistake or a record that fell? Write to hello@boxscorestories.com.

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