Position Estimates
How Basketball Reference's Position Estimates Work
The Play-by-Play tables on Basketball Reference feature position estimates for players. These estimates are generated by a proprietary formula that analyzes every lineup a player appeared in throughout the season. For each unit, every player is assigned a positional value from 1 (point guard) to 5 (center) based on a combination of factors including their listed position, height and weight, rebound rate, and assist rate: the weighted average of these positional values gives the final percentages.
It should be noted that these are estimates and not official. They will not catch all nuance, but merely aim to estimate how players are used. This data is available for the NBA back to the 1996-97 season.
Here is an example of the Play-by-Play table from the 2025-26 season:
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