NBA Data Study · 2025-26 Season

RotoGrinders Staff · June 2026

The NBA's $17.6 Million Season

The NBA collected $17,606,626 in fines and forfeited salaries in 2025-26 — 946 infractions across all 30 teams, up 17.4% from the prior year. One player accounts for two-thirds of that total. The rest of the league still had plenty to say.

For lineup builders, what matters isn't the dollar figure — it's what suspension windows, repeat offenders, and brawl-night rotations did to projections. This study maps every infraction across the full season so you know which teams ran volatile and which ran clean.

Key Findings

• Philadelphia led all teams at $11,885,293 — Paul George's 25-game PED suspension is $11,742,293 of it, the largest individual penalty in the dataset.
• Detroit logged the most infractions of any team (67) and finished second in dollars at $958,561, driven by Isaiah Stewart's 7-game suspension and $813,561 in combined penalties.
• Charlotte's $835,296 was the most concentrated total outside Philly — Miles Bridges's 4-game fight suspension alone is $689,655, over 82% of the team's entire bill.
• The league total rose 17.4% year-over-year, driven by costly suspensions rather than routine tech foul volume.
• Dillon Brooks set the infraction-count record at 22 separate incidents — the most of any player this season.
• Utah, San Antonio, and Portland finished below $45,000 — the cleanest rosters in the league by a wide margin.

The Top 10 Most Fined NBA Teams of the 2025-26 Season

Philadelphia, PA · Eastern Conference · $11,885,293

This is a one-player story. Paul George's 25-game PED suspension cost him $11,742,293 in forfeited salary — 98.8% of Philadelphia's total. Strip it out and the Sixers' remaining $143,000 ranks 28th. The suspension ran from late January through April, cutting across more than 30% of the regular season and reshaping the Sixers' entire rotation for three months.

Tyrese Maxey absorbed the bulk of the offensive load and rewarded DFS players who recognized the shift early. Joel Embiid's usage climbed. The windows were predictable once the suspension was confirmed — the market was slow to adjust.

Detroit, MI · Eastern Conference · $958,561

No team in the league was more volatile. Detroit's 67 infractions are the most of any franchise this season, and their $958,561 reflects a roster-wide problem rather than a single bad night. Isaiah Stewart is the headline: a 7-game suspension following a February brawl carried a $724,138 salary hit, bringing his season total to $813,561 across 16 incidents. Jalen Duren added a 2-game suspension and $104,423.

When Stewart and Duren overlapped in absence, Detroit's frontcourt became one of the hardest rotations in the league to project. That chaos was opportunity — if you had the stomach for it.

Charlotte, NC · Eastern Conference · $835,296

One night. One fight. February 11 cost Charlotte $689,655 when Miles Bridges received a 4-game suspension. That single incident is 82% of the franchise's entire season total. Moussa Diabate was also suspended the same night — both punishments stemmed from the same brawl. Outside of that date, Charlotte ran a fairly quiet operation.

The LaMelo Ball angle is worth noting: $41,000 across four incidents, no suspension impact. He plays with edge, but the edge hasn't crossed the expensive line yet.

Los Angeles, CA · Western Conference · $544,190

Luka Doncic generated $364,366 across 18 infractions, including a 1-game suspension in late March. Marcus Smart added $93,000 across 12 incidents. Together they account for 84% of the Lakers' total. Doncic's 18 logged incidents is the second-highest count for any guard in the dataset — behind only Dillon Brooks.

That March suspension landed on a night where the Lakers were heavy favorites. Any build around Doncic absorbed the full value hit. With a player at 18 incidents, suspension risk isn't hypothetical — it's a scheduling factor.

Minneapolis, MN · Western Conference · $382,149

Rudy Gobert's January flagrant foul suspension cost $201,149 and defines Minnesota's total, but this roster kept the noise level elevated all season. Naz Reid logged 15 infractions and $70,000 in fines — the highest infraction count of any center in the dataset. Julius Randle added $43,000. Fifty-three incidents across 10 players is a team playing with consistent edge.

Reid is the player to track going forward. Fifteen incidents this season, including multiple ejections. The next escalation step is a suspension — and at his current pace, it is coming.

Phoenix, AZ · Western Conference · $364,475

Dillon Brooks set the infraction record this season: 22 separate incidents, $207,403 in fines, one suspension. That is roughly one incident every four games. It is not a streak or a rough patch — it is a behavioral baseline. Devin Booker added $72,000 across 16 incidents, making Phoenix's starting backcourt one of the most fine-prone in the league.

The pattern risk here is real. Phoenix appeared in fine-related news on 52 separate occasions this season. Any slate with a Suns game carries an elevated probability of a Brooks ejection reshaping the rotation mid-game.

Memphis, TN · Western Conference · $359,042

Ja Morant's 1-game conduct suspension in early November — conduct detrimental to the team — carried a $272,042 salary hit before the season was two weeks old. That front-loaded Memphis's total immediately and put Morant under the league's microscope for the rest of the year. He finished with five infractions and $280,042, the seventh-highest individual total in the dataset.

The November suspension window is textbook DFS value. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. both saw usage spikes when Morant was out — the pattern held again this year, and it will hold again next time.

Sacramento, CA · Western Conference · $353,807

Dennis Schröder's 3-game January suspension — striking and kicking — forfeited $291,807 and accounts for 82% of Sacramento's total. The rest of the roster combined for $62,000 across 26 infractions. This is a clean team that had one ugly week.

Three Schröder-less nights pushed Malik Monk into a larger offensive role. Monk delivered each time. Clean suspension windows with an obvious value beneficiary are the easiest edge in DFS — Sacramento gave you three of them in January.

Oklahoma City, OK · Western Conference · $177,241

A single March brawl put OKC on this list. Three players — Jaylin Williams ($50,000), Cason Wallace ($35,000), and Ajay Mitchell ($35,000) — were fined for entering a fight area on March 22. Mitchell also received a 1-game suspension. Outside of that date, Oklahoma City generated just $57,241 across the remaining season — one of the most disciplined profiles in the league for a team that finished near the top of the Western Conference.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recorded just three technicals all year. The Thunder's penalty profile matches their brand: controlled, deliberate, and operating within the rules more than almost anyone else.

Orlando, FL · Eastern Conference · $171,000

Orlando's 46 infractions are the fourth-highest in the league, but no single incident broke the bank. Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs each logged 10 incidents; Wendell Carter Jr. added 8. This is steady low-level noise rather than brawl damage — tech fouls, ejections, and a handful of escalated conduct fines spread across the season.

Bane's profile deserves a flag: one $35,000 striking fine in December and two ball-into-stands violations totalling $50,000. The league is watching. A repeat in 2026-27 likely carries a suspension, not a fine.

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The Most Fined Players of the 2025-26 Season

Team totals only tell half the story. These are the individual players who cost themselves — and their rotations — the most across the season. Paul George's PED suspension dominates the dollar column, but the players below him are the ones whose behavioral patterns carry forward into 2026-27.

The infraction count column tells a different story than the dollar column. Brooks leads with 22 incidents but ranks eighth in total cost — because most of his penalties were standard technicals rather than salary-forfeiting suspensions. Stewart has 16 incidents and $813,561 because his incidents kept escalating. Doncic has 18 incidents but only one suspension — so far. The gap between infraction count and dollar cost is where future suspension risk lives.

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One Player. Two-Thirds of the League.

Remove Paul George and the NBA's 2025-26 fines total drops from $17.6 million to $5.9 million. Philadelphia falls from first to 28th. The teams that actually ran volatile operations — Detroit, Charlotte, the Lakers, Minnesota — move to the top of a more representative picture.

At the other end: Utah ($22,000), San Antonio ($35,000), and Portland ($44,000). Utah logged just 11 infractions all season — fewer than Detroit averaged per month.

Expert Comment

The Fine Print Pays Off

Detroit ran the most chaotic operation in the league — 67 infractions, two players combining for nearly $920,000 in penalties. Charlotte put 82% of its full-season total into a single February night. Phoenix generated 22 incidents from one player alone. These are not statistical quirks. They are behavioral patterns that showed up in projection models every week they occurred.

The teams at the bottom of this list — Utah, San Antonio, Portland — offer predictability. The teams at the top offer something else: rotation disruption you can see coming if you're watching the penalty data in real time.

The fine print is where the DFS edge lives.

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