In the NBA, a player fouls out after 6 personal fouls in a game, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

Quick Scoop

  • A player is disqualified (fouls out) when they commit 6 personal fouls.
  • Personal fouls include most common contact fouls (blocking, reaching in, shooting fouls, etc.).
  • Once a player fouls out, they must leave the game and cannot return, but the team can substitute another player in.

What about other types of fouls?

  • Technical fouls: 2 unsportsmanlike technicals lead to an automatic ejection, even if the player has fewer than 6 personal fouls.
  • Flagrant 2 fouls: One flagrant 2 means immediate ejection from the game.
  • These ejections are different from “fouling out” on personals, but the result (you’re out of the game) is similar.

Same rule in overtime?

  • The 6-foul limit does not reset in overtime; it carries through the entire game.
  • So a player with 5 fouls entering overtime is one more foul away from being disqualified.

Bottom line: In the NBA, 6 personal fouls = foul out. Technicals and flagrant 2s can remove you earlier through ejection, but they follow their own separate rules.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.