USAGE TAX CALCULATOR
When a player takes on more of their team's offense, what happens to their efficiency? Most players pay a usage tax — TS% drops as USG% climbs. A rare few scale, staying above the league curve even at star-level workloads. This tool charts any player's 10-season USG/TS history against the league baseline.
The League Landscape
WHO SCALES, WHO PAYS
Every APEX-era player plotted by career-average USG and TS (min 2 seasons).
The dashed line is the league TS curve. The vertical split at USG 22 separates
featured roles from support roles. Top names per quadrant labeled; click any name to drill in.
Above curve
Below curve
League TS curve
USG 22 split
The top-right is survivorship, not scaling.
Notice the league curve rises past 30 USG — but that's not because high usage makes players efficient.
It's because only efficient scorers are ever trusted with that volume. The 30+ USG zone is a filtered
sample of elites, so the curve there reflects who survives, not what the average player would do.
LEAGUE LEADERBOARDS
What is Usage Tax?
USG% measures the share of a team's possessions a player uses (shots + turnovers + trips to the line).
TS% measures scoring efficiency. In the NBA, the two are inversely correlated: as a player does more,
they usually do it less efficiently. The league curve (gray line) shows the average TS% at each USG%
bucket. A player above the curve is paying less tax than expected — they scale. Below the curve,
they're paying the tax.
Data coverage: 2015-16 through 2024-25 (APEX era). Minimum 20 GP per season. Older seasons will be added in a future pipeline update.
Data coverage: 2015-16 through 2024-25 (APEX era). Minimum 20 GP per season. Older seasons will be added in a future pipeline update.