Last year, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said it best. “We should bring back fighting. If you want to talk about robbing the league of entertainment, what’s more entertaining than a little scuffle?” It seems players in the NBA have taken those words a little too seriously in 2025. Be it playoffs or regular season games, the drama was always heightened.

The action on the court continued even after the buzzer as the players refused to stop. Officials couldn’t even separate some of those fights, and the league had to issue massive fines. Even last night, there were fights as the Suns and the Pelicans players clashed, but we are not counting because we’re looking back at the year so far.

Wild Pistons-Wolves Brawl Leads to Seven Ejections

Earlier this year, there was an outright brawl as 7 people in total were ejected. A second-quarter altercation occurred after Detroit’s Ron Holland fouled Minnesota’s Naz Reid as he attempted a layup. Both players got chirpy, and Donte DiVincenzo stepped in, but it turned into a shoving contest, and then the gloves were off.

Detroit lost head coach J. B. Bickerstaff, center Isaiah Stewart, forward Ron Holland II, and guard Marcus Sasser. Minnesota forward Naz Reid and guard Dante DiVincenzo were tossed as well, along with assistant coach Pablo Prigioni. The game featured 12 technical fouls, the most in an NBA game since March 23, 2005, per OptaSTATS. Even the Pistons HC said, “Things went too far,” but supported his players for jumping in the brawl.

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“But what you see is guys looking out for one another, guys trying to protect one another, guys trying to have each other’s backs. Those are non-negotiables in our locker room.” The league made sure to punish the guilty parties. Stewart served a two-game ban without pay. He got the longest suspension among the guilty players involved because of “his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.” His teammates, Ron Holland II and Marcus Sasser, served a one-game ban. Even Reid and DiVincenzo received a similar one-game ban without pay.

Bucks continue their rivalry with the Pacers

After the 2024 NBA playoffs, where the Pacers won 4-2, Indy had seven technical fouls, while the Bucks had 6. The 2025 playoffs again had the two Eastern giants facing each other. Giannis Antetokounmpo was playing his first postseason game since April 26, 2023, and did light up Game 1. But again, there were 2 technical fouls, one each for Bucks’ Damian Lillard and the Pacers’ Pascal Siakam. And the issues continued.

Gary Trent Jr. and Bennedict Mathurin were issued technical fouls for their roles in the scuffle with just under 2 minutes left in the first quarter in Game 2. In Game 4, the Bucks lost Lillard to an ACL injury, and in Game 5, they had control but lost it at the end. The Bucks were leading by 7 with 35 seconds left and destined for Game 6. But the Pacers went on an 8-0 run, culminating with Tyrese Haliburton’s last-second basket to give Indiana a 119-118 win.

For the second time, the Bucks duo of Lillard and Antetokounmpo bowed out in the first round. The emotions were high, and the Greek Freak infamously got into a scuffle with Tyrese Haliburton’s father, John. According to Antetokounmpo, John walked toward the Bucks star, waving a towel and swearing at him. “I believe in being humble in victory,” Antetokounmpo said after the game, which ended Milwaukee’s season.

Giannis lingered after the sudden defeat, which is when John Haliburton ran onto the court and started talking to him. The two were face-to-face before Bucks players and team security pulled them apart. John Haliburton later apologized on social media.

It was the second skirmish Antetokounmpo had to be pulled away from in the aftermath of Game 5. He exchanged words with Bennedict Mathurin as the two shared an embrace, during which Antetokounmpo put his hand around Mathurin’s neck, causing the Pacers guard to push him away before they also had to be separated by teammates.

Dillon Brooks vs everyone (Stephen Curry/ Draymond Green/ Jimmy Butler/LeBron James)

The former Rockets guard is arguably the best agitator in the league currently. During Houston’s first-round series against Golden State last season, he was at it. “No, we’re not having fun. I don’t like Dillon Brooks,” Jimmy Butler said after the Warriors’ Game 4 win. Even Stephen Curry shared the same sentiment. “That was so stupid because [Dillon Brooks] had did it literally the play before,” Curry said about taunting Brooks. “I just returned the favor, but they didn’t see him, they saw me.”

As Curry took a first-quarter 3-pointer, Alperen Şengun and Dillon Brooks challenged the shot. While Brooks flew by him, he appeared to hit Curry’s right thumb, which had been bandaged for months. Curry drew the second personal foul on Brooks, and as the Warriors superstar lay on the ground, he held up two fingers. That didn’t sit well with Brooks, who tried to grab the ball from Curry. The referees reviewed the altercation and assessed technical fouls to Curry, Brooks, and Green.

Throughout the series, the 29-year-old was not afraid of delivering questionable contact and even dancing on the fine line of a flagrant or technical foul. “If he doesn’t want contact, he should play tennis,” Brooks said in a message to Curry ahead of Game 6.

Facing high-profile names was not new for Brooks. Two months before the playoff encounter, he faced the Suns and Kevin Durant. KD appeared to push Brooks off the tie-up as Brooks continued jawing, smiling as he aimed to get under Phoenix’s collective skin. With 4:48 left in the second quarter and Houston leading 55-38, Brooks continued to argue and was ejected. After the play was reviewed, two technical fouls were awarded to Brooks and one each to Durant and the Suns’ Nick Richards.

Earlier this month, the antics were even on display against his favorite opponent, LeBron James. The Suns forward finished a two-handed dunk in transition as LeBron could barely catch up or block the shot. Later, he even mocked with a shrug, celebrating twice. In the fourth quarter, LeBron got to taunt Brooks. The 29-year-old failed to get his shot off, and King James was on the bench, throwing a thumbs-down at the Suns forward’s missed chance.

During the December 14 matchup, the two forwards were going at each other for the whole night. Brooks earned a technical foul early in the game, and LeBron earned a flagrant after review for a hard foul. In the third quarter, the level was raised as Brooks threw the ball at James after losing control. They would once again get physical. In the final quarter, LeBron contested Brooks’ three hard, extending his leg without fouling.

Naturally, Brooks got back up and bumped chests, and that earned his second technical foul of the night, which led to ejection.“I guess he’s a social-media junkie,’’ Brooks said while not backing down from future matchups.

Clippers vs Nuggets

“If you like basketball, like a real fan, not a fake fan of basketball, these are the games you should watch,” Jokic said ahead of Game 7 against the Clippers in round 1. Throughout the series, we saw one great play after another. In Game 4, Aaron Gordon got a buzzer-beater dunk to win the game, while Game 2 was a Klaw masterclass. But it also had physical battles.

The first-half scuffle in Nuggets-Clippers Game 4 had 6 techs. Clippers guard James Harden and Nuggets guard Christian Braun tangled in the final seconds before halftime, triggering a skirmish that resulted in six technical fouls. Ivica Zubac tried to stop Aaron Gordon, who raced around him toward Harden as several players tangled while the referees tried to break it up.

After a lengthy review, the referees assessed technicals to Harden, Norman Powell, and Kris Dunn of the Clippers, as well as Jokic, Gordon, and Braun. The crowd chanted, “Kick him out!” in reference to Gordon. But that was just the beginning, as we saw players tangling in Game 1. With 34 seconds left, the Clippers were challenged following a Kawhi Leonard turnover. Jokic wanted to inbound the ball quickly. But assistant coach Van Gundy and Clippers trainer Jasen Powell, though, tried to wrestle the ball away from him while sitting on the bench in a strange NBA playoffs scene.

Pacers on the list again, this time against the Nets

During a regular-season game between the Pacers and the Nets on March 20, Brooklyn’s Trendon Watford and Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard got tangled up. Watford ran toward Nembhard after a made basket and hit him with a forearm to the chest. Watford also shoved Turner after he ran toward the scuffle. The security had to check on the fans sitting in the first few rows as the action was so close to them.

Other players and officials had to step in to ensure it didn’t escalate further. Eventually, Watford was assessed two technical fouls and ejected, while Turner and Nembhard were each assessed a technical foul. Nembhard didn’t last much longer, either. Less than a minute into overtime, he got whistled for a foul and wasn’t happy about it. What does chirping at the official earn?

Referee Tony Brothers gave him a technical—his second of the game—leading to an automatic ejection. But that was not the end of their misery.

The NBA fined Watford and Turner $35,000 each for the altercation. Additionally, Nembhard was also fined $20,000 for his role in initiating the altercation in the Pacers’ 105-99 overtime victory over the Nets. As stated above, no game is off limits, be it the playoffs or the regular season. And no doubt 2026 will have more in store.