What Are Basketball Violations and How Do They Differ From Fouls?

A violation in basketball is a rule breach that carries no free throws — the ball is handed to the opposing team for a throw-in. That is the defining line between a violation and a foul: a foul involves illegal contact and can award free throws, while a violation, with a single exception at the free-throw line, never does.

Under the FIBA Official Basketball Rules (the 2024 edition until 30 September 2026, the 2026 edition from 1 October), the common violations fall into a few families: traveling, dribbling errors (double dribble and carrying), playing the ball with something other than the hands, the time limits (3, 5, 8 and 24 seconds), the backcourt or "over-and-back" violation, and goaltending or basket interference. Each one ends the possession and gives the ball to the other side.

Where that throw-in is taken is not one answer but two. Most violations restart from the place nearest the infraction, except from directly behind the backboard — that is the wording of Article 13.3 and, with the added "in its frontcourt", of Article 30.3. Anything that cancels a goal restarts somewhere else: FIBA's interpretation 17-50 states that whenever the ball enters the basket but the goal is not valid, play resumes with a throw-in from the free-throw line extended, on the same side of the floor where the cancelling action occurred.

Referees signal a violation, stop the clock, and restart with a throw-in — never a free throw. That list is identical under the 2026 rulebook; what the new edition moves is described in the next section. For how points and fouls interact on the scoreboard, see our guide to how basketball scoring works.

FIBA published the Official Basketball Rules 2026 in July 2026, and they take effect worldwide on 1 October 2026. Until 30 September the OBR 2024 still governs, so a game played in September and a game played in October are judged from two different books.

For violations, the headline is what did not happen: no violation was added and none was removed. Traveling, double dribble, carrying, the hands-only rule, the 3/5/8/24-second limits, the backcourt rule and goaltending are all on the 1 October list exactly as they are today, and each still ends the possession with a throw-in rather than a free throw.

What moved is narrower and sits in three places. Article 24.2 now states in one sentence that a second dribble is legal only where the player lost control of a live ball because of one of three listed events; FIBA's stated reason is to remove inconsistent readings of double dribble. Article 15 rewrites the act of shooting (not a violation itself, but the line that decides whether contact on a drive brings free throws) and states flatly that the number of legal steps has no relationship to it. And Appendix F widens the instant replay system so a goaltending or basket interference call can be checked after a foul at any time of the game, not only inside the last two minutes.

FIBA has since published the second half of the package. The Official Basketball Rules Interpretations 2026 (OBRI, version 1.0, August 2026) is the 160-page document officials actually train on, and it is valid from the same date, 1 October 2026. Its front matter states that it supersedes all previously published FIBA Official Interpretations — so a case learned from the 2024 interpretations is no longer authority for anything, even where the underlying article never changed. Interpretations are cited throughout this guide in FIBA's own numbering, such as 17-52 for offensive goaltending. For the foul side of the same rulebook, including the new flagrant and disruptive fouls and the split of technical fouls into two categories, read our basketball referee guide.

Traveling is moving the pivot foot illegally or taking too many steps while holding the ball without dribbling. The penalty is a throw-in for the other team — no free throws, because traveling is a violation, not a foul.

The pivot foot is the foot that stays planted once a player stops dribbling or catches the ball. A player may rotate on that foot and lift it to pass or shoot, but if the pivot foot returns to the floor before the ball leaves the hand, that is traveling.

The FIBA Official Basketball Rules recognize a gather step: a player who is moving may take a "zero step" as they gather the ball, followed by two steps. This modern reading matches the NBA's gather interpretation, so a controlled catch-and-two-steps drive to the basket is legal.

Common traveling cases:

• Lifting and replanting the pivot foot before releasing the ball.
• Taking three or more steps after gathering.
• Rolling on the floor, or trying to stand up, while still holding the ball.
• Jumping with the ball and landing before releasing a pass or shot.

That third case is the one spectators get backwards. Article 25.2.2 says that falling and sliding along the floor while holding the ball is legal, and so is gaining control of the ball while already lying or sitting on the court. The violation starts only at the next movement: the player rolls, or attempts to stand up, with the ball still in the hands.

Two interpretations stop a travel being called at all when a defender has a hand on the ball. Under 12-23, a driver in the act of shooting whose ball is grasped firmly by a defender, and who then takes more steps than the traveling rule allows, has produced a jump ball situation — the held ball came first. Under 12-13 the mirror image is a travel: a player who jumps with the ball, is legally blocked, and comes back down still holding it while the defender has let go has traveled. And 15-20 settles what happens when a foul and a travel land in the same motion. A player fouled in the act of shooting who then scores while committing a traveling violation does not get the goal; it is cancelled and 2 or 3 free throws are awarded instead.

Because the gather step is easy to misjudge at speed, referees watch the exact moment the ball is controlled. A single misread here can decide a possession. For how officials position and signal, read our basketball referee guide.

The 2026 rulebook does not touch traveling. Article 25 is not among the articles listed in FIBA's rule-changes document for 1 October 2026, so the gather step plus two steps survives unchanged. What the new edition adds, in Article 15.1.5, is a flat statement that there is no relationship between the number of legal steps taken and the act of shooting. Those are two separate questions with two separate answers: the step count decides whether you whistle a travel, and the act of shooting decides whether contact brings free throws. A player can be inside a legal gather-plus-two and not yet be in the act of shooting, and the referee has to answer both questions rather than let one settle the other.

The two dribbling violations are the double dribble and carrying (also called palming). Both end the possession and give the opponent a throw-in — no free throws are awarded.

A double dribble happens when a player dribbles, stops the dribble by catching the ball with one or both hands, and then starts dribbling again. Once you pick up your dribble, you may only pass or shoot. Touching the ball with both hands ends the dribble permanently.

Carrying occurs when the dribbling hand turns under the ball so the palm faces upward, letting the ball rest momentarily before it is pushed down again. This gives an unfair pause and control, so it is whistled as a violation.

A fumble is not a dribble: if a player loses control accidentally before any dribble and regains it, no violation has occurred. The distinction is whether the player deliberately controlled the ball and re-started the dribble, which is what officials look for.

Article 24.1.4 goes further and names seven things that are not dribbles at all — which is why none of them can be the first dribble that a second one would be illegal after: successive shots for a goal; fumbling the ball at the start or at the end of a dribble; attempts to gain control by tapping the ball from the vicinity of other players; tapping the ball out of another player's control; deflecting a pass and gaining control of it; tossing the ball from hand to hand and letting it come to rest before it touches the court, provided no traveling is committed; and throwing the ball against the backboard and regaining control. A player who does any of these still has a full dribble in hand.

From 1 October 2026, Article 24.2 states the test in a single sentence: after a first dribble has ended, a player may dribble again only if they lost control of a live ball on the court because of one of the following — a shot for a goal, the ball being touched by an opponent, or, on a pass or fumble, the ball touching or being touched by another player. Any one of the three is enough, which is precisely the clarification FIBA says it was after. The case the wording makes unmistakable is the fumble: a ball you drop and pick up yourself, after your dribble has already ended, is not on that list.

Basketball is played with the hands only. Article 13 of the FIBA Official Basketball Rules makes it a violation to run with the ball, to deliberately touch the ball, to kick or block it with any part of the leg, or to strike it with the fist. Contact with a leg that is accidental is not a violation — the rule says so in as many words.

The word carrying the weight is deliberately. A pass that ricochets off a defender's shin is nothing at all; a defender who sticks a foot out to break up the same pass has committed a violation. Referees are reading intent, not contact, which is why two visually identical plays get two different calls.

The interpretations add a couple of cases most spectators have never heard of. Statement 13-1 puts placing the ball between the legs to fake a pass or a shot on the same list as kicking, and interpretation 13-2 confirms the call as an illegal touching of the ball with the leg — even though nobody kicked anything. Statement 13-4 covers a different kind of unfair advantage: it is not permitted to increase a player's height or reach, so lifting a team-mate to play the ball is a violation. In interpretation 13-5, a lifted player dunks the pass, the goal does not count, and team B restarts from the free-throw line extended in its backcourt.

The penalty is the standard one in Article 13.3: the ball goes to the opponents for a throw-in from the place nearest the infraction, except from directly behind the backboard.

Time violations enforce pace. The main limits under the FIBA Official Basketball Rules, unchanged in the 2026 edition, are 3, 5, 8 and 24 seconds, and each expiry gives the ball to the opponent with a throw-in — never a free throw.

Three seconds: an offensive player may not remain in the opponents' restricted area for more than three consecutive seconds while their team controls a live ball in the frontcourt and the game clock is running. Article 26.1.2 grants three allowances, and the third is the one commentary misses: a player who dribbles in the restricted area to shoot for a goal, having been there for less than three consecutive seconds, is not in violation. Article 26.1.3 sets the way out — both feet must be placed on the court outside the restricted area before a player counts as established outside it.

Five seconds: Article 27 counts only a player holding a live ball, and only while an opponent is in an active legal guarding position at a distance of no more than 1 m. That player must pass, shoot or dribble within five seconds. Note what that does in FIBA: dribbling ends the count rather than continuing it, so there is no closely-guarded dribbling count of the kind some national codes use. The same five seconds govern a throw-in and a free-throw shooter once the ball is at their disposal.

Eight seconds: the team with the ball must move it from its backcourt into the frontcourt within eight seconds. Article 28.1.3 lists six restarts where the count continues with the time remaining instead of starting again, whenever the same team is awarded a backcourt throw-in: the ball going out-of-bounds, an injury to one of that team's own players, a technical foul by that team, a jump ball situation, a double foul, and the cancellation of equal penalties. Anything outside that list, such as a defensive foul or a defensive violation, gives a fresh eight seconds.

Twenty-four seconds: the shot clock. The offense must get the ball out of the hand before the signal, and the ball must then touch the ring or enter the basket.

The reset is tied to the ring, not to the rebound. This is the single most-repeated error about the shot clock, and Article 29.2.7 is explicit: only after the ball has touched the ring of the opponents' basket does the clock reset — to 24 seconds if the opponents gain control, and to 14 seconds if the team regaining control is the same team that had it before the ball touched the ring. An air ball that never reaches the ring resets nothing. The original 24-second count keeps running, which is exactly how a team collects its own miss and is whistled for a shot-clock violation a few seconds later.

The 14-second reset keeps offensive rebounds dangerous, but only once the ball has been to the ring. A free scoreboard like JudgeMate's basketball live scoreboard runs the game clock and a separate shot clock so spectators can follow every reset.

A backcourt violation, often called "over and back", happens when the attacking team returns the ball to its own backcourt after establishing it in the frontcourt. The result is a throw-in for the defense, with no free throws.

Under Article 30.1.1 of the FIBA Official Basketball Rules, unchanged in the 2026 edition, a team is in control of a live ball in its frontcourt when a player of that team touches the frontcourt with both feet while holding, catching or dribbling the ball there — or when the ball is simply passed between that team's players in the frontcourt. From that instant the offense may not be the last to touch the ball in the frontcourt and then the first to touch it in the backcourt.

Two conditions must both be met for the violation:

• The offense was the last team to touch the ball in the frontcourt.
• The offense is the first team to touch it with part of the body in contact with the backcourt, or after the ball has touched the backcourt.

Article 30.1.2 then adds two lines worth memorizing. The restriction applies to all situations in a team's frontcourt, including throw-ins — a frontcourt throw-in collected by a team-mate standing in the backcourt is a violation, not a reset. And it does not apply to a player who jumps from the frontcourt, establishes a new team control while still airborne, and lands with the ball in the backcourt. That is the sideline save that looks illegal and is not: the control is new, so the team was never in frontcourt control of that particular ball.

If a defender knocks the ball back, or a defensive tip sends it into the backcourt, there is no violation, because the defense caused it.

The penalty is more specific than "the nearest sideline". Article 30.3 awards the ball to the opponents for a throw-in in its own frontcourt, from the place nearest to the infraction, except from directly behind the backboard. The eight-second count and the backcourt rule then work together: once you cross, you cannot go back. This pins the offense into the attacking half and rewards defensive pressure near the halfway line.

Goaltending and basket interference govern touching the ball near the rim. Both are violations, and the outcome depends on who commits it: a defensive infraction awards the points to the offense, while an offensive infraction cancels the basket.

Goaltending under Article 31.2.1 is touching the ball during a shot for a goal while it is completely above the level of the ring and either on its downward flight to the basket or after it has touched the backboard. On a free throw, Article 31.2.2 is stricter still: touching the ball in flight at all, before it touches the ring, is goaltending. Article 31.2.3 ends the restriction the moment the ball can no longer enter the basket or has touched the ring.

Basket interference under Article 31.2.4 is not one act but six:

Article 31.3 sets the penalties. An offensive violation scores nothing and gives the opponents a throw-in from the free-throw line extended, unless the rules state otherwise. A defensive violation awards the offense 1 point if the ball was released for a free throw, 2 points from the 2-point area and 3 points from the 3-point area — the points are given exactly as if the ball had entered the basket.

The one violation that produces a free throw. Article 31.3.3: where a defender commits the violation during a last free throw, the offense is awarded the 1 point and a category 2 technical foul is charged against that defender, which under Article 36.3.2 hands the opponents one further free throw. It is worth being exact about what is new here, because it is easy to overstate: Article 31 is not among the articles FIBA lists as changed for 2026. The rule works as it did. What the 2026 book changed is the label — technical fouls are now split into two categories, and a category 2 technical does not count towards game disqualification.

Three interpretations sharpen the edges. 17-29 is the counterintuitive one: on a throw-in, a player of either team who reaches through the basket from below to touch the ball has committed basket interference, but where the defense commits it, no points are credited, because the ball was released from out-of-bounds rather than from a shot. 17-52 fixes the restart after offensive goaltending: the goal does not count, and team B throws in from the free-throw line extended in its backcourt, on the side where the ball was illegally touched, with 24 seconds on the shot clock. And 18/19-9 supplies the administrative consequence — the violation stops the game clock and makes the ball dead, so a time-out or a substitution requested at that moment shall be granted.

A goaltending call becomes reviewable from 1 October 2026. Under Appendix F of the OBR 2026, the instant replay system may be used to check whether a goaltending or basket interference violation occurred after a foul was committed, and whether it was called correctly — at any time of the game, not only inside the last two minutes. FIBA's reason is blunt: a missed or wrongly given call at the rim moves the scoreboard by two or three points in either direction. In the last 2:00 of the fourth quarter and in each overtime, whether such a violation was called correctly is reviewable in its own right.

Where a review shows the call was wrong, the rulebook sets out how play restarts. If the ball had legally entered the basket, the goal counts and the defensive team takes a throw-in from the endline. If a player of either team had gained immediate and clear control of the ball, that team throws in from the place nearest to where the ball was when the call was made. If neither team had control, a jump ball situation occurs. This is a change for competitions that run an instant replay system, not for every level of the game.