Technical fouls are the NBA’s quickest snapshot of emotion. Sometimes it is leadership. Sometimes it is frustration. Usually, it is both, layered on top of the nightly grind: missed calls, constant contact, and stars carrying usage that invites arguments on every whistle.
This year’s list is a mix of usual suspects and a few surprises. You have the veteran instigators who live on the edge, the franchise engines who spend half the game negotiating with officials, and the competitive playoff teams that can afford some fire, until they cannot.
The key context is simple. Techs are not just a vibe metric. They turn into free points, momentum swings, and eventually missed games. The league’s regular-season threshold matters because one suspension can flip a tight week, especially for teams in the middle of the standings.
Here are the 10 players with the most technical fouls this season, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1.
10. Cade Cunningham
Cade Cunningham has 7 technical fouls, which is not outrageous on its own, but it says something about the way the Pistons play and the way Cunningham has to play.
The Pistons are the top seed in the East at 40-13, and Cunningham is the main reason it feels sustainable. He is putting up 25.3 points, 9.6 assists, and 5.6 rebounds, with 46.2% from the field and 33.0% from three. That is a real star line, and it comes with the nightly burden of being the guy who sees the most traps, the most grabs, and the most “play on” contact.
That is where the techs make sense. Cunningham lives in the paint, and he lives in the midrange. His game is built on getting two feet in the lane, forcing rotations, then making the correct read. When the whistle goes silent, it is hard not to react, because the next possession is the same fight again. A lot of young stars go through this phase. They are learning which conversations with refs are productive, and which are just a quick donation of a free throw.
The bigger point is risk management. Seven techs through 47 games is not danger territory, but it isn’t nothing. It is about the efficiency of emotion. The Pistons are good enough that every possession matters late, and Cunningham’s value is his control. His pace, his decision-making, and his ability to keep the game organized. A tech is the opposite of that.
9. Pascal Siakam
Pascal Siakam has 7 technical fouls, and the number feels less like volatility and more like stress. The Pacers are 15-40 and near the bottom of the East, which is exactly where frustration turns into arguments.
Siakam’s production has not collapsed. He is at 23.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, shooting 48.0% from the field and 36.9% from three. That is still a high-level forward line, the kind that usually lives on a winning team. But basketball punishes empty possessions more when you are already losing, and techs are the emptiest possessions you can give away.
The Pacers are also in a weird place structurally. When you are not consistently winning, every small mistake becomes bigger. A single technical can feel like the game is slipping away, even if it is only one point. That is how a veteran gets dragged into ref conversations he would normally ignore.
8. Bobby Portis
Bobby Portis has 7 technical fouls, and this is the classic “energy tax.” The Bucks sit at 23-30, outside the top tier in the East, and Portis is one of the few guys on that roster who can change the temperature of a game in two minutes.
Portis is averaging 13.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in 24.3 minutes, and the shooting is the real surprise: 45.1% from three, with 48.3% from the field. But his edge comes with noise. He talks. He stares. He celebrates. He gets into it with opponents and with refs. Some of that is good. Teams that are mediocre often need someone willing to be the emotional spark plug. Portis does that naturally.
The downside is the timing. When the Bucks are already fighting uphill in the standings, you cannot afford random techs that turn a close third quarter into a two-possession swing. Portis is not a player who should be trying to “turn it down,” because the same intensity is what makes him valuable. The goal is channeling it into screens, rebounds, and quick-release threes, not ref debates that do not change the call.
7. Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown has 8 technical fouls, and it is a small blemish on an otherwise loud season. The Celtics are 35-19 and near the top of the East, and Brown has played like a No. 1 option.
He is at 29.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, with 48.3% shooting from the field. That is a heavy load, and it becomes even heavier given the season context around the Celtics’ health. When a team is winning, and you are doing more creation than ever, you are going to argue calls because the margin between a clean drive and a turnover is often one uncalled hold.
Brown’s techs also fit the way he plays. He is direct. He drives through bodies. He takes contact on the chin and keeps coming. That style invites collisions, and collisions invite conversations. He is not out there hunting refs. He is usually reacting to a specific no-call on a play where he feels like he got hit on the arm or displaced in the air.
The bigger thing is that the Celtics can live with some fire until they cannot. A contender does not need its best player losing a quarter to foul trouble and then compounding it with a tech because he is already annoyed. The postseason version of this conversation is even harsher, because refs swallow whistles and stars have to finish plays through contact.
I actually like that Brown is playing with an edge. The Celtics can drift into “too comfortable” basketball when things are smooth. Brown’s intensity keeps them honest. But the smartest version of that intensity is making the next defensive rotation, not making a point to an official. Eight techs are not a crisis, but it is a reminder that the Celtics need Brown available, not just productive.
6. Devin Booker
Devin Booker has 8 technical fouls, and this one is fascinating because it does not match his reputation. Booker is usually controlled. The Suns, though, have created a season where controlled players still get pulled into frustration.
The Suns are 32-23 and sitting in the middle of the West pack. Booker is averaging 25.2 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in 43 games, with 45.5% shooting from the field and 86.3% at the line. When teams are more willing to go under a screen or load up to his pull-up zones, the game gets more physical.
That is where the techs live. A lot of Booker’s frustration moments are not about one call. They are about a pattern. A defender hand-checks three possessions in a row, the whistle stays quiet, and suddenly Booker is talking to the nearest official instead of flowing into the next action.
The Suns also have another player on this list, which tells you something about their internal temperature. When multiple key guys are racking up techs, it usually means the team feels like it is battling the game and the officiating at the same time. That is almost always a trap. It makes you play slower. It makes you look for validation instead of advantages.
Booker is too good to waste possessions like that. The Suns need his calm. Not passive calm, but the version where he gets hit, runs back, and scores anyway. If the Suns are going to climb, Booker’s best rebuttal is still buckets, not dialogue.
5. Anthony Edwards
Anthony Edwards has 9 technical fouls, and if you watch the Timberwolves, you can basically guess how most of them happened. Edwards plays with a mix of joy and disrespect that can flip into rage when he thinks the game is being called differently for him than for the guy guarding him.
The Timberwolves are 34-22 and firmly in the West playoff picture. Edwards is averaging 29.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, with 49.3% from the field and a massive 40.2% from three. That is superstar production, and it comes with nonstop pressure at the rim and on the perimeter. He is getting fouled, he is initiating contact, and he is taking the kind of shots that make players believe every whistle should be theirs.
The problem is that Edwards can talk himself into the wrong game. When he is locked in, he is terrifying. When he is angry, he starts trying to prove a point on every drive, and he looks up at the ref after every miss. That is when techs happen, and it is also when his defensive attention slips.
Nine techs is not panic mode, but Edwards has a history of flirting with the line, and the league has shown it will enforce thresholds when players keep stacking them. The Timberwolves do not need him sanitized. They need him sharp.
4. Draymond Green
Draymond Green has 11 technical fouls, and at this point, it is almost a career category. It is also not purely theater. Green’s entire game is communication: directing traffic, calling out coverages, pushing the line of legality, then arguing the line when a ref decides it moved.
The Warriors are 29-26, hanging around the Play-In range in the West. Green’s box score is modest, 8.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.2 assists, but the impact is bigger than the stat line. He is still the brain of their defense and a lot of their half-court orchestration.
That is why the techs are frustrating for them. Every technical is not just a free throw. It is a break in rhythm for a team that already lives on rhythm. The Warriors’ offense needs flow, and Green’s job is to connect everything. When he is arguing instead of initiating the next possession, the whole thing stalls.
There is also a practical part. Green is older now, and the Warriors cannot afford the nights where he picks up a quick tech, then gets a second one later because he is still in the same mood. Those are self-inflicted wounds for a team without a lot of margin.
I will say this, though: the Warriors are not the Warriors without Green’s edge. If you take away the constant chatter and the willingness to be the villain, you take away a chunk of what makes him effective. The goal is not to turn him into someone else. It is to make sure his intensity is applied to the next defensive possession, not to a debate he is not going to win.
3. Isaiah Stewart
Isaiah Stewart has 12 technical fouls, and his season has been exactly what you think it is: physical, loud, and always one shove away from chaos.
The Pistons are the No. 1 seed in the East, and Stewart has played a real role in their identity. He is averaging 10.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 23.3 minutes, shooting 54.0% from the field. That is efficient production for a player who is basically asked to do the dirty work: protect the rim, hit first, and make the paint feel crowded.
But Stewart’s edge is not just “toughness.” It is volatility. He was recently suspended for seven games for escalating an on-court fight against the Hornets, and the league explicitly cited his history in the decision. That matters here, because technical fouls are usually the early warning sign before the bigger moments. They are the little pressure leaks.
Twelve techs in 48 games is also a high rate. Stewart is not a star scorer, which means the downside of techs is even worse relative to his role. The Pistons can survive a tech from their best player if it comes with 30 points. A tech from a defensive big is just giving the opponent a point for free.
The good news for the Pistons is that Stewart’s intensity fits a contender. Playoff basketball is violent. Teams need a guy who enjoys it. The bad news is that the league does not care if you are a contender when you cross lines.
2. Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic has 13 technical fouls, and honestly, it is not a surprise. He plays like he is running a court case. Every drive is evidence. Every whistle is a ruling. He is brilliant, but the arguing is part of the package.
The Lakers are 33-21 in the West and living in the tier where every win matters for seeding. Doncic is leading the league in scoring at 32.8 points per game, with 8.6 assists and 7.8 rebounds in 42 games. He is also doing it efficiently for that volume, 47.3% from the field and 34.5% from three.
So why the techs? Because the way he creates offense is by forcing defenders into illegal positions. He slows you down, gets you on his hip, then dares officials to call the contact. When they do not, it feels personal. And Doncic’s reactions are rarely subtle.
The Lakers cannot let this drift into missed games. Thirteen techs means he is already close enough to the danger zone of 16 technical fouls in the regular season, which leads to a one-game suspension. The Lakers need Doncic on the floor more than they need him to win every argument.
My opinion is that this is the one player on the list who can most directly control his total. His techs are not about being “too emotional.” They are about habit. He has trained himself to react, because sometimes it works, and officials give him a make-up whistle later. The problem is that it also costs points, and it can cost games.
If the Lakers are serious, this is an easy edge to clean up. Keep the talk for dead balls. Save the fire for the shot-making.
1. Dillon Brooks
Dillon Brooks leads the league with 16 technical fouls, and this is where the season crosses from annoying into costly. Sixteen is the number that triggers an automatic one-game suspension under league rules, and Brooks already hit it, as he’ll be suspended after the All-Star break per the league’s announcement.
The Suns are 32-23, trying to climb in the West, and Brooks is having the best scoring season of his career: 21.2 points in 49 games, plus 1.1 steals, while playing 31.1 minutes a night. He is also hitting 34.3% from three, which matters because it keeps him on the floor in big minutes.
This is the tension with Brooks. He brings real value. He defends, he hits shots, he takes hard assignments, and he gives the Suns a nastiness that most teams do not want to deal with. But he also treats every game like a personal feud. That is his identity. It has always been his identity.
The problem is that the Suns cannot afford the penalty side anymore. The free throws are bad enough. The suspension risk is worse. Brooks already got popped for the 16th tech, and every two more techs after that bring another suspension. That is a structural threat to a team that needs continuity.
Brooks’s edge is useful when it is aimed at opponents. When it is aimed at officials, it is just wasted energy. The Suns should not ask him to be someone else, because then he is not as effective as a defender. But they should be demanding a smarter version of the same guy. Talk your talk. Play your defense. And stop handing points away for free.
Because when the league leader in techs is also one of your most important two-way players, the price is not theoretical. The price shows up on the schedule.
