A technical foul is a foul assessed for unsportsmanlike conduct or procedural violations rather than illegal contact during play.
The technical foul covers basketball's conduct code. It is assessed for behaviour rather than contact: arguing aggressively with officials, taunting, hanging on the rim for show, delaying the game, or having six players on the floor. The penalty in the NBA is one free throw for the opponent plus consequences that accumulate: fines during the season and a suspension once a player's technical count passes the league threshold in the regular season, with a fresh count and quicker trigger in the playoffs.
The technical has its own folklore. Certain famously volcanic players built careers partly around the count, Rasheed Wallace's single season record of 41 technicals in 2000 to 2001 stands as the sport's monument to arguing, and the sight of a coach taking a deliberate technical to fire up a team or make a point to the officials is a recognized tactic with a price tag.
For quiz purposes the distinction that matters is structural: technicals do not count toward a player's six personal fouls or the team foul total, a rule detail that decides both trivia questions and, occasionally, who is still on the floor in the fourth quarter of a Finals game.
In use"Arguing the call earned the coach a technical foul and gave the other team a free throw."