Technical foul

Many infractions can result in the calling of a technical foul. One of the most common is the use of profane language toward an official or another player. This can be called on either players who are currently active in the play of the game, or seated on a team's bench. It can also be assessed to a coach or another person associated with the team in an official capacity such as a trainer or an equipment manager. Additionally, coaches or players can be assessed a technical foul for disputing an official's call too vehemently, with or without the use of profanity. This verbal unsporting technical foul may be assessed regardless of whether the ball is dead or alive. Other offenses can result in technical fouls, such as: • Allowing players to lock arms in order to restrict the movement of an opponent (usually a team technical) • Baiting or taunting an opponent • Disrespectfully addressing or contacting an official or gesturing in such a manner as to indicate resentment • Faking being fouled (flopping). In NCAA women's basketball, effective in 2023–24, the first offense is a warning, with subsequent offenses being technical fouls assessed as team personal fouls, but not as individual personal fouls. • Fighting or threatening to fight • Goaltending a free throw • Grasping either basket during pre-game or halftime warm-ups during the time of the officials' jurisdiction, including attempting to dunk or stuff a dead ball (whether successful or not) prior to or during the game or during any intermission of the game. Beginning in 2015–16, dunking is permitted during warmup periods in NCAA play, although hanging on the rim remains illegal. • Illegal substitution or entering the game at an impermissible time • Intentionally hanging on the basket at any time (except to prevent an injury) • Kicking or striking the basketball at any time using the foot in an unsportsmanlike manner (unintentional kicking is a violation only) • Knowingly attempting a free throw or accepting a foul to which the player was not entitled • Lifting or jumping onto a teammate to gain a height advantage • Remaining out of bounds to gain an advantage • Removing the jersey or pants within the visual confines of the playing area • Shattering the backboard or rim of a goal • Use of television monitoring or replay equipment, computers, or electronics such as megaphones for coaching purposes during the game • Using tobacco or smokeless tobacco Violations of the rules for delaying the game (in the NBA, NCAA, and NFHS) usually incur a team warning for a first offense, followed by a team technical, or sometimes a player technical, if the same team delays a second time. From 2023–24, NCAA women's rules explicitly call for delay of game to be a team warning on the first offense and a team technical thereafter. • Making aggressive gestures anywhere on the court • Disagreement in which a player demonstrates how he was fouled • Running toward an official to complain about a call • Excessive inquiries about a call ==Penalty==

In college basketball, NFHS, and lower divisions, the penalty for technical fouls has increased over the years. Initially, the opposing team was awarded one free throw. This later increased to one free throw and possession of the ball. For a while, "bench technicals" assessed on a non-active player, assistant coach, or anyone else on the team bench were considered more serious and resulted in the award of two shots. (Coaches have their own technical fouls, although they may be ejected and/or suspended if they have a mix of technicals totaling two or three fouls, depending on seriousness.) Today, high school basketball (NFHS in the United States) provides for two free throws and possession of the ball at the division line opposite the scorer's table, regardless of circumstances, for a technical foul. International basketball provides a similar penalty. Before the 2015–16 season, college basketball awarded two shots for all technical fouls, with the ball then put in play at the "point of interruption", the spot and circumstances where play was stopped for the technical. Since 2015–16, the NCAA awards only one free throw for so-called "Class B" technicals, such as hanging on the rim or delay of game; "Class A" technical fouls still result in two free throws. In the WNBA and NBA, the penalty remains one free throw for the opposing team, with play resuming from the point of interruption. The shot clock is reset to 14 seconds if it read less than that at the time of the foul. The team awarded the free throws for a technical may select the player(s) to shoot them (this rule differs slightly from level to level and internationally), as opposed to personal fouls, where the player fouled, unless injured, must shoot his own free throws. In the WNBA and NBA, technical fouls are split into two classes, unsportsmanlike and non-unsportsmanlike. A player assessed an unsportsmanlike technical foul is fined, and accumulating sixteen unsportsmanlike technical fouls during the regular season will result in a one-game suspension. For every two technical fouls received thereafter during that regular season, the player or coach's suspension increases by one game. Non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical fouls are defined per NBA Rule 12, Section V, Paragraph c, and none count towards a fine, ejection or suspension. These fouls are assessed for excessive time-outs, defensive three seconds, scratched player dressing and playing, a player foul penalty situation, shattering backboards, or delay of game. An offensive player who intentionally hangs on the backboard, unless it is for safety reasons, is fined $500 but is only assessed a non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul. Technical fouls assessed for a player foul penalty situation caused by an offensive foul still result in one free throw. The league can reclassify an unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul as a non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul after a game. For example, the NBA changed the technical foul by DeMarcus Cousins for clearing Jeremy Lamb's loose shoe off the playing court in a Golden State Warriors v. Charlotte Hornets game on February 25, 2019, from unsportsmanlike to non-unsportsmanlike, rescinding the fine and the foul count, primarily over safety issues. ==Notable instances==

One of the most notable technical fouls ever assessed was called on Chris Webber of the University of Michigan late in the 1993 NCAA championship game. Down by two points to North Carolina with only seconds remaining, Webber called a time-out when Michigan had none left. After the referees approved his request, the resulting excessive time-out technical foul, for which North Carolina guard Donald Williams made both foul shots, ended any hopes Michigan had of claiming the championship. A string of technical fouls occurred on February 23, 1985, at a regular season game between the rival Purdue Boilermakers and Indiana Hoosiers. Just five minutes into the game, a scramble for a loose ball resulted in a foul call on Indiana. IU's head coach Bob Knight was furious and insisted the call should have been a jump ball. Seconds after Purdue inbounded, another foul was called on Indiana. Knight received a technical for his irate reaction, and then famously threw a red plastic chair from Indiana's bench across the court, resulting in a second technical. As his tirade continued, he received a third technical and was ejected from the game to a standing ovation from the home crowd at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The picture of Knight throwing the chair has since become a potent symbol of the Indiana–Purdue rivalry. In what has been called "the greatest game ever played", Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals between the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics, the Suns found themselves one point down with one second left in double overtime, no time-outs remaining and possession of the ball under their defensive basket after a John Havlicek bucket. Faced with the near-impossibility of sinking an 80-foot desperation shot, Suns guard Paul Westphal hit upon an unusual solution. He intentionally called a time-out the Suns did not have. While this gave the Celtics a free throw, which Jo Jo White successfully converted to increase the lead to two, it gave the Suns possession at halfcourt, and enabled Gar Heard to sink an 18-footer as time expired to force a third overtime. NBA rules were changed the following year to prevent a repeat occurrence. An instance where many technical fouls could have been called, but were not (instead, the game was abandoned, a remedy available to the officials when too many players would have or have been disqualified or ejected for the game to continue, or when a team continually commits technical fouls in order to make a travesty of proceedings), was the Pacers–Pistons brawl involving players and spectators on November 19, 2004, in an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. Ron Artest of the Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Pistons began scuffling after Artest fouled Wallace hard. This escalated into a brawl where players from both teams became involved, and grew worse after Artest retreated to the scorer's table and was hit by a cup thrown by a spectator. Artest and several teammates and opponents then ran into the stands and fought with fans. Had technical fouls been formally assessed, the result would likely have been the ejection of both teams' entire squads (except for Pistons player Tayshaun Prince, who was the only player from either team to remain on the bench for the entire incident). In the end, nine players were suspended for a total of 146 games, including Artest for the remainder of the season. In a 2007 game against the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs' power forward Tim Duncan was charged a technical foul by referee Joe Crawford for laughing at him while sitting on the bench ("gesturing in such a manner as to indicate resentment," as indicated above). As he had already picked up a technical foul on the previous play, also while sitting on the bench, this led to his ejection. Upon further review it was determined that the second technical foul was inconsistent with the league's game management, and NBA commissioner David Stern suspended referee Crawford for the rest of the season. Duncan was fined $25,000 for the incident. On October 25, 2022, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns set the record for most combined technical fouls in a quarter with seven in the third quarter. Rasheed Wallace holds the record for the most technical fouls received during one season in the NBA. In the 2000–01 NBA season, he received 41 technical fouls in 80 regular season and postseason games played. Karl Malone holds the career mark for most technical fouls by a player in the regular season with 332, a record previously held by Dennis Rodman. There have been a few instances in the NBA when a team's entire bench has either been injured or fouled out, and one of the five remaining eligible players fouls out, resulting in the technical foul that effectively acts as a bonus free throw situation. The Atlanta Hawks' Cliff Levingston (fouled out, but one of the five remaining players was ejected) and the Los Angeles Lakers' Robert Sacre (fouled out) have both taken advantage of the disqualified player rule. Under NBA Rule 3-I-a (player fouls out) and 3-I-b (player injured or ejected), the player was assessed with a technical foul for remaining in the game or returning to the game after fouling out. == List of NBA career technical fouls leaders ==

The following list shows the NBA players with the most career technical fouls (regular season + playoffs). Statistics accurate as of April 17, 2026. == See also ==