Technical Foul

A technical foul punishes behaviors outside the sporting frame of the game: excessive complaints to referees, insults, unsportsmanlike gestures, fights, overly loud benches, a coach crossing the line, and so on.

The standard sanction: the opposing team shoots one free throw and keeps possession. In the NBA, two technicals in the same game trigger an automatic ejection. In FIBA, a technical counts toward the player's personal foul total.

There are also specific defensive technicals like the NBA's "defensive 3 seconds": a defender remaining in the paint for more than 3 seconds without actively guarding an opponent gets a technical.

The players most frequently hit (Dennis Rodman, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins) became notorious for constantly flirting with the line. Some teams manage emotional discipline as a real roster-level task.