The Harden Effect: Quantifying the Impact of Drawing Fouls on NBA Game Outcomes

Jake Beardsley (Roanoke College)

Fouling is an often overlooked but important part of basketball.  When a player draws a foul it impacts both the offensive and defensive teams, but there are not currently any metrics used to quantify this effect.  This project investigated which players draw the most fouls in the NBA and built the Impact via Drawing Fouls metric using data from every game of the 2018-2019 NBA season. The metric shows promise in terms of finding players who are potentially underrated and may be worth acquiring from the standpoint of NBA front offices and teams at large.  This metric can also be utilized by Roanoke College's Stat Crew to help our basketball team build better recruiting practices.