How much is a technical foul in the NBA: All you need to know about the fine scale

As the NBA season rolls on and the referees keep on giving players one technical foul after another, the question arises: How much is a technical foul in the NBA?

The NBA Players Association agreed to a sliding scale in the latest collective bargaining agreement as far as penalties for technical fouls are concerned. To restrain players from picking up unnecessary technical fouls, the league decided to up the penalty and also added a suspension rule.

A player is required to pay a $2000 fine for each of the first five technical fouls they incur in a season. Then, a player is required to pay $3000 for each of their season's sixth through 10th technical fouls. Furthermore, a player must pay $4000 for each of their season's 11th through 15th fouls.

After that, if a player commits a 16th technical foul, he must pay a fine of $5000. Additionally, he will also be forced to serve a one-game suspension. If a player accumulates 16 technical fouls in a single regular season, it would be a huge surprise. Last season, Dallas Mavericks' young superstar Luka Doncic came close to the mark.

Beyond the 15th tech foul, the player will have to pay a fine of $5000 for each technical foul he gets. The total number of technical fouls gets reset to zero when the new regular season begins or when the playoffs begin.

In the playoffs, the scale for technical fouls is different. The fine is $2000 for the first two fouls. After that, the league fines $3000 for the next two fouls. For the fifth and sixth technical fouls, the player has to pay $4000 for each technical foul. However, the seventh technical foul is a different story altogether.

The league fines a player $5000 for their seventh technical foul in a single playoff season. Additionally, the league also imposes a one-game suspension. The most famous incident due to this rule was Game 4 of the NBA finals in 2016. Draymond Green got his seventh technical foul for attacking LeBron James in the groin.

Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5, with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving willing the Cleveland Cavaliers back into the series by winning the game on the road and eventually going on to win the championship that season.

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How do NBA players receive technical fouls?

There are various ways in which NBA players or even coaches might receive such a foul. One of them is due to a team calling more timeouts than they have.

A technical foul is given if a player or coach seeks a timeout when their team no longer has any left. The technical foul given for this reason is very, very rare in the NBA.

Another reason why a player can receive a technical foul is due to a 'delay of the game.' By delaying the ball's entry into play or by touching it before the throw-in has been released, the player might get a technical foul.

Another couple of unusual ways in which NBA players get such a foul is if an offensive player deliberately hangs on the basketball ring, net or backboard or if there are more than five players on the basketball court at any time.

However, the most prominent way in which NBA players get a technical foul is for bad player conduct. The likes of Draymond Green, Luka Doncic, and Patrick Beverley are frequently on the receiving end of such technical fouls.

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