T’d Up: Players who received the most technical fouls in NBA history

Technical fouls can be assessed to players who argue a little too passionately or consistently with referees. Technicals can also be given to players involved in a verbal or physical altercation with another player. We’ll look back at the players who received the most “T’s” in league history. Technical fouls numbers were sourced from ClutchPoints and NBA statistics were sourced from Basketball Reference.

In order to be high on this list, a player would’ve needed to have a lengthy career and have remained relatively healthy for that duration. Malone checks both boxes, and has the most technical in NBA history with 332.

He wasn’t really a talker, but he tended to let his elbows fly. Isiah Thomas and David Robinson were just two players that received funny bones to the face from Malone, as NBC Sports had documented.

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As has been proven time and time again in his post-playing career, Barkley will say whatever is on his mind. It comes as no surprise that his loquacious tendencies manifested themselves in the technical foul department, as he would chat with anyone in earshot.

Barkley fell just three technical fouls short of Malone for the all-time lead.

Fans of a certain age might be surprised that Wallace isn’t higher on the all-time list. After all, he does hold the record for technical fouls in a season with 41. Simply put, he went after the referees harder than anyone in basketball history, as ESPN alluded to.

In his mind, he never committed a foul, and felt that officials were missing fouls that were levied against him.

As Ball is Life and others have commented, few were more adept at directing stinging insults at an opponent than Payton. He was one of those players who accepted the defensive challenge, and spoke to players while putting his body up against them.

The point guard spent the vast majority of his career with the Seattle SuperSonics.

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Considering his antics during the second half of his career, Rodman’s penchant for getting on people’s nerves was second to none. He took a different approach than other irritants in league history, using what he thought were humorous jabs at other players. Fadeaway World went into detail about his meddlesome ways.

This made other players take matters into their own hands to keep him quiet, so Rodman found himself in a few skirmishes.

This might seem shocking to some. It’s hard to remember the usually soft-spoken Nowitzki losing control of his emotions or getting involved with other players. The longevity of his career boosted him up the ranks of this category. There may be a day when we learn more about what Nowitzki said to draw the ire of officials on so many occasions.

The 1990s were a different time when it came to the style of play in the NBA. Teams and players were not afraid to mix things up and exert their physical presence. Mason was a prototypical player of that era. He wasn’t considered to have a variety of offensive skills, but he made an impact by making life difficult for the opposition, as chronicled by Sports Illustrated.

Westbrook remains an active NBA player, so he’ll have ample opportunity to ascend up the technical foul ranks before he retires. He has always played with a certain reckless abandon, which has worked to his advantage and to his detriment. Sometimes that fearlessness has gone a little too far, but that’s part of the experience.

Players who make a living in the paint are always going to be privy to taking more contact. Howard’s athleticism and strength, especially as a younger player, were attributes that have seldom been seen in NBA history. Defenders had no choice but to try and match his physicality, which led to feelings being hurt from time to time.

The majority of what Garnett said on NBA courts probably is not suitable for family audiences. He had a very particular way of expressing himself, but no one denies how much he wanted to win. This made him someone that teammates loved to play with, and an individual that opponents despised and sometimes even feared, as Bleacher Report noted.

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