What Is a Flagrant Foul? Flagrant 1, Flagrant 2 and Technicals

A flagrant foul is contact that NBA officials judge to be unnecessary, or both unnecessary and excessive, rather than part of a normal basketball play. A flagrant 1 (unnecessary contact) gives the fouled team two free throws and the ball, while a flagrant 2 (unnecessary and excessive contact) carries the same penalty plus an automatic ejection of the player who committed it.

Flagrant fouls sit inside a wider system of technical fouls, ejections, fines and suspensions. This guide covers all of it using the 2026-27 NBA rulebook on official.nba.com, then shows how college and international (FIBA) games differ. If you are new to the pro game itself, start with how long an NBA game lasts for the basics of quarters and the clock.

How the NBA defines a flagrant foul

The NBA rulebook defines it in one line. In Rule 4, Section IV, a flagrant foul is "unnecessary and/or excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent whether the ball is dead or alive." So it is always about contact (yelling at a referee can draw a technical, never a flagrant), and it can happen after the whistle as well as during play.

A flagrant foul is still a personal foul. It counts toward the player's limit of six personal fouls and toward his team's foul total for the quarter, exactly like an ordinary reach-in or block.

To decide whether contact crossed the line, officials use the "Comments on the Rules" section of the rulebook (Section Q, Flagrant Foul Criteria) lists the factors they weigh:

• The severity of the contact.
• Whether the player was making a legitimate basketball play, such as a real attempt to block a shot. A block attempt can still be flagrant if it is reckless or includes hard contact to the head.
• On a foul with the arm or hand, whether the player wound up beforehand or followed through after the contact.
• The potential for injury, such as a blow to the head or a foul on a player in a vulnerable position in the air.
• The severity of any injury the fouled player actually suffered.
• The outcome of the contact, for example whether it led to an altercation.

No single factor decides the call. A hard foul by a defender clearly going for the ball often stays a common foul, while a lighter swipe at an airborne player's head can be flagrant.

Flagrant 1 vs flagrant 2: the penalties

The rulebook names the two levels "flagrant foul, penalty (1)" and "flagrant foul, penalty (2)", and Rule 12B, Section IV sets out what each one costs.

A flagrant 1 is contact the officials interpret as unnecessary. The penalty:

• A personal foul on the offender and a team foul on his team.
• Two free throws for the fouled player, and then his team gets the ball for a throw-in at the free throw line extended.
• If the fouled player is hurt and cannot shoot, his coach picks one of the other four players on the court to take the free throws. In that case the injured player may not return to the game.
• A player who commits two flagrant 1 fouls in the same game is ejected.

A flagrant 2 is contact that is both unnecessary and excessive. The penalty:

• The same two free throws plus possession.
• If the fouled player is hurt and cannot shoot, his coach brings in a substitute and any player on the team may take the free throws. The injured player may come back into the game at any time after the free throws.
• The offender is ejected. The rulebook calls a flagrant 2 an unsportsmanlike act.
• A minimum fine of $2,000 under Rule 12A, Section VII, and the incident is reported to the league office. The Comments on the Rules add that the offender may face a fine of up to $50,000 and/or a suspension from the Commissioner.

How instant replay decides the call

Flagrant fouls are one of the few calls in the NBA that must go to video. Rule 12B, Section IV states that a foul "must be reviewed using Instant Replay to confirm it meets the criteria" to be ruled a flagrant 1 or 2. Rule 13, Section I also lets officials trigger a review whenever they are not reasonably certain whether a personal foul they called met the flagrant criteria.

In that review, the referees can decide that the foul stays a common foul, upgrade it to a flagrant 1 or flagrant 2, or rule it a technical foul instead. They can also penalize other players for unsportsmanlike acts or unnecessary contact right around the foul.

Unlike most reviews, the final say on flagrant fouls and altercations belongs to the on-court officials, not the league's Replay Center. Under Rule 13, Section III, the crew chief and a second referee make the ruling at the scorer's table, and the usual two-minute review limit can be stretched when a play could lead to an ejection.

The process does not end at the final buzzer. The league office reviews incidents after games and can upgrade a call, downgrade it or assess a flagrant foul that was never called at all. The best-known case came in the 2016 NBA Finals: after Game 4, the league office reviewed a play in which Golden State's Draymond Green swiped at LeBron James and assessed Green a retroactive flagrant 1. It was his fourth flagrant point of that postseason, and he was suspended for Game 5.

Flagrant points and suspensions

That Green suspension came from the flagrant point system, which turns repeated flagrant fouls into suspensions without the league having to issue a fresh ruling each time. A flagrant 1 is worth one point and a flagrant 2 is worth two, and the regular season and the playoffs are counted separately.

In the regular season, the trigger is a total above five points. NBA.com laid out the schedule in its 2025-26 suspension announcements, such as Minnesota center Rudy Gobert's one-game suspension in January 2026 after his sixth flagrant point of that season:

• A player at 4 points who commits a flagrant 2: automatic 1-game suspension.
• A player at 5 or 6 points who commits a flagrant 1: automatic 1-game suspension.
• A player at 5 or 6 points who commits a flagrant 2: automatic 2-game suspension.
• A player at 7 points or more who commits any flagrant foul: automatic 2-game suspension.

The playoffs are much stricter. Under league rules, as stated in NBA releases, a player who accumulates four flagrant points over the course of the playoffs is automatically suspended for one game. After that, each additional flagrant 1 brings another one-game suspension and each flagrant 2 a two-game suspension. Points carry over from round to round, so a player can carry three points from the first round into the Finals. Coverage of the 2026 Finals confirmed the four-point threshold was still in place.

A hypothetical example shows how quickly it adds up. Take a forward who picks up a flagrant 1 in the first round (1 point) and a flagrant 2 in the second round (3 points, and he is ejected from that game). If he commits another flagrant 1 in the conference finals, he reaches 4 points and misses the next game. In the regular season, the same three fouls would leave him at 4 points with no automatic suspension at all.

Points are the floor, not the ceiling: the Commissioner can fine and suspend players for any serious incident, whatever their point total.

Technical fouls: the non-contact cousin

Fans often lump flagrant and technical fouls together, but they punish different things. Rule 4, Section IV defines a technical foul as the penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct or for certain violations by players on the floor or people on the bench. Rule 12A, Section V adds that a technical "cannot be assessed for physical contact when the ball is alive," with fighting and taunting with contact as the exceptions.

The penalty is lighter than a flagrant. The other team gets one free throw, which any player in the game can shoot, and the team that had the ball when the technical was called keeps it. If both teams get technicals during the same dead ball, it is a double technical and nobody shoots.

Typical unsportsmanlike acts in the rulebook include disrespectfully addressing an official, overt resentment of a call, profanity and taunting. Some technicals are not considered unsportsmanlike at all, including those for delay of game (after a first warning), defensive three seconds, having too many or too few players on the court, and hanging on the rim. Those do not count toward an ejection.

Technical fouls also cost money. The fine schedule printed in Rule 12A, Section VII of the current rulebook reads:

• Regular season: $2,000 each for technicals 1 to 5, $3,000 each for 6 to 10, $4,000 each for 11 to 15, and $5,000 plus a one-game suspension for the 16th. After that, every technical costs $5,000 and every second one (the 18th, 20th and so on) adds another one-game suspension.
• Playoffs: $2,000 each for technicals 1 and 2, $3,000 each for 3 and 4, $4,000 each for 5 and 6, and $5,000 plus a one-game suspension for the 7th, with another suspension for the 9th, 11th and so on.
• A warning letter goes to the player when he reaches his 10th technical in the regular season or his 5th in the playoffs.

Regular-season technicals do not follow a player into the playoffs, where the count starts again.

Every way to be ejected from an NBA game

An NBA ejection always comes from a technical foul, an unsportsmanlike act or a flagrant foul being called first. Rule 12A, Section V lists the cases in which a player, coach, trainer or other bench person must be ejected:

• A punching foul, whether or not the punch lands.
• A fighting foul.
• A technical for an attempted punch or swing with no contact, or an elbow thrown above shoulder level toward an opponent with no contact.
• Deliberately entering the stands, other than as part of the play.
• A flagrant foul, penalty (2).
• A second flagrant foul, penalty (1), in the same game.
• Taking part in the game when not on the team's active list.

On top of that, two technical fouls for unsportsmanlike acts mean an automatic ejection, and officials may eject someone after just one.

An ejected player has to leave the playing area immediately and stay in his team's locker room or leave the building. Under the same fine schedule, a first ejection costs $2,000, and each later one costs the amount of the player's previous ejection fine plus another $2,000. A player who throws a punch is also suspended for at least one game (Rule 12B, Section IX).

College and international rules

NCAA men's basketball uses the same flagrant 1 and flagrant 2 names, though the wording differs. In the 2026-27 NCAA men's rules book (Rule 4, Section 15), a flagrant 1 is a foul that is "excessive in nature" and/or "unnecessary," while a flagrant 2 involves contact that is not only excessive but also "severe" or "extreme." The penalties match the NBA's in shape: two free throws and the ball for a flagrant 1, and two free throws, the ball and an ejection for a flagrant 2. Contact to the groin remains a flagrant 2 by default, but since the 2025-26 season officials have been allowed to downgrade it on replay to a flagrant 1 or a common foul.

College technical fouls come in two classes. A Class A technical (unsportsmanlike conduct) is worth two free throws and a Class B technical (a lesser, non-contact infraction) is worth one. Class A technicals count toward a player's five-foul limit, and two of them mean an ejection. In NCAA women's basketball, a second flagrant 1 in a game also means an ejection.

International basketball changed its system this season. The 2026 FIBA Official Basketball Rules, in force worldwide from October 1, 2026, replaced the old "unsportsmanlike foul" with two new types: the disruptive foul (a tactical foul that stops the flow of play) and the flagrant foul (a foul that is not a legitimate basketball play, is reckless or dangerous, or involves excessive, hard contact). Both carry free throws and possession. Under Article 38, a player is disqualified after two flagrant fouls, two category 1 technical fouls, or one of each, while disruptive fouls do not count toward disqualification.

Quick reference: flagrant and technical fouls in the NBA

The essentials, all from the 2026-27 NBA rulebook unless noted:

• Flagrant 1: unnecessary contact. Two free throws plus the ball. Two in one game is an ejection.
• Flagrant 2: unnecessary and excessive contact. Two free throws plus the ball, automatic ejection, minimum $2,000 fine.
• Every flagrant call is confirmed by instant replay, and the league can upgrade, downgrade or add flagrants after the game.
• Flagrant points: 1 for a flagrant 1, 2 for a flagrant 2. Four points in the playoffs means a one-game suspension; the regular-season suspensions start once a player passes five points.
• Technical foul: no live-ball contact. One free throw, and the team in possession keeps the ball.
• Two unsportsmanlike technicals mean an ejection. The 16th regular-season technical, or the 7th in the playoffs, brings a one-game suspension.

Penalties for rough play work very differently in other sports; compare them with how a power play works in hockey. And for the bigger picture of where these suspensions bite hardest, see how many games are in an NBA season, including the play-in tournament and the playoffs.