GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
How do potential and adjusted assists differ from credited NBA assists?
A credited assist is a pass that leads directly to a made basket. A Potential Assist is any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving it, even if the shot misses. Adjusted Assists is a separate sum of credited assists, free-throw assists and secondary assists; Potential Assists are not one of those added categories.
For Bettors and cappers interpreting basketball statistics · Updated
A shot opportunity is not always an assist
The NBA glossary defines AST as passes that lead directly to a made basket. Potential Assists count a pass when the receiver shoots within one dribble of getting the ball. That tracking category can include a miss, so it is an opportunity measure rather than the same credit as AST. A made basket after a direct pass can satisfy both definitions for the same pass.
Adjusted Assists adds two other defined credits
Adjusted Assists is the sum of assists, free-throw assists and secondary assists. The glossary defines a free-throw assist when a passer’s teammate draws a shooting foul within one dribble of receiving the pass. A secondary assist is awarded when the recipient of a pass records an assist within one second and without dribbling.
Keep those categories separate when reading a pass sequence. A potential shot, a direct assist, a free-throw assist and a secondary assist have different conditions; do not add Potential Assists to Adjusted Assists as if they were interchangeable credits.
A fictional three-event pass ledger
Hypothetical sequence, all times measured from the stated pass: Event 1, A passes to B; B takes one dribble, shoots and misses. A receives one Potential Assist, but no credited AST and no Adjusted Assist from that pass. Event 2, C passes to D; 0.8 seconds later D passes to E without dribbling, and E makes a two-point field goal. D receives one credited AST and one Potential Assist; C receives one Secondary Assist because D records an assist within one second without a dribble. Event 3, F passes to G; within one dribble G draws a shooting foul. F receives one Free Throw Assist under the glossary definition, not a direct field-goal AST from a made basket. Across these events, AST ADJ credits are C=1, D=1 and F=1; Potential Assists are separately A=1 and D=1. These are invented event conditions, not actual player records.
Related questions
Does a Potential Assist require the shot to go in?
No. The NBA glossary defines it by a pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball. A credited AST, by contrast, requires the pass to lead directly to a made basket.