Edition and scope
This is a historical comparison of NBA 2025–26 and FIBA 2024, not a statement of current rules. The editions overlap in the 2025–26 period. It compares rules of play, not tournament qualification, standings or scheduling regulations. The FIBA side covers senior five-on-five games; youth adaptations, 3x3 and aggregate-score series require separate checks.
The governing texts are the NBA 2025–26 Official Rules and FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a.
What to watch
Before judging a late foul, check both the period and the team-foul count. The comparison suggests a practical viewing habit: track the player’s total separately from the team’s bonus status. They answer different questions—whether the player can continue and whether the foul produces bonus free throws.
The bonus rows concern ordinary defensive non-shooting fouls; they are not a universal penalty chart. Shooting, offensive and special-category fouls need their own provisions. A made basket can also coincide with another reason to stop the clock.
For more detail, see team fouls and bonus free throws and NBA overtime rules. Check each linked resource’s edition before combining its guidance with this comparison.
Governing texts
- NBA 2025–26 Official Rules: Rules 3, 5 and 12-B.
- FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2024, v1.0a: Articles 8, 40, 41 and 49.
Rules side by side
| Situation | National Basketball Association (NBA) · 2025–26 Official Rules · NBA standard games in the 2025–26 season; excludes exhibition formats with special rules. | International Basketball Federation (FIBA) · Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a · FIBA senior five-on-five basketball under the 2024 edition, compared during the NBA 2025–26 period. Excludes youth modifications, 3x3 and aggregate-score series. |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation playing time | Four 12-minute quarters: 48 minutes. | Four 10-minute quarters: 40 minutes. |
| Overtime duration — similarity | Five-minute periods, repeated until the tie is broken. | Five-minute periods, repeated until the tie is broken. |
| Automatic game-clock stops after made baskets | Final minute of quarters 1–3; final two minutes of quarter 4 and each overtime. | Final two minutes of quarter 4 and each overtime; no equivalent automatic stop in quarters 1–3. |
| Player foul limit — whole game | Disqualification at six personal fouls, subject to Rule 3's exceptional provisions preventing fewer than five players. | A player must leave after five fouls. |
| Ordinary defensive non-shooting fouls — regulation bonus | Two free throws from the fifth team foul. If below the quota entering the final two minutes, only one team foul remains available without the penalty. | Two free throws from the fifth team foul in a quarter. No separate final-two-minute threshold. |
| Ordinary defensive non-shooting fouls — overtime bonus | A new overtime count: two free throws from the fourth team foul, with the final-two-minute restriction also applying. | Overtime fouls accumulate with quarter 4; the team-foul count does not reset. |
Rule editions and sources
- National Basketball Association (NBA) · 2025–26 Official Rules · NBA standard games in the 2025–26 season; excludes exhibition formats with special rules. — NBA — Official Rules 2025-26, Rule 4 Section VII and Rule 6 Sections V-VII
- International Basketball Federation (FIBA) · Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a · FIBA senior five-on-five basketball under the 2024 edition, compared during the NBA 2025–26 period. Excludes youth modifications, 3x3 and aggregate-score series. — FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2024 v1.0a, Articles 12, 17, 48 and 50 (valid 1 October 2024)