What Does PF Mean in Basketball?

The two are unrelated. The context tells which one is meant: a number next to PF is a foul count, and PF on a roster listing is the position.

The power forward is one of the five traditional positions, listed beside point guard, shooting guard, small forward and center. The rulebook does not define the positions, because the playing rules require only that each team has five players on the court, so the position names are a convention of the game and not a rule.

Rule 4, Section IV defines the fouls. A common personal foul is illegal physical contact with an opponent that occurs after the ball has become live and before the horn sounds to end the period. If time expires before the foul occurs, the foul is disregarded, unless it was unsportsmanlike.

The same section defines the other kinds of personal foul that count toward a player's total, among them:

• An offensive foul: illegal contact committed by an offensive player after the ball is live and there is team control.
• A loose ball foul: illegal contact after the ball is alive when team control does not exist.
• A flagrant foul: unnecessary or excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent, whether the ball is dead or alive.
• A punching foul: a punch that makes contact with an opponent.
• An away-from-the-play foul: illegal contact by the defense in the last two minutes of a period, deliberately away from the immediate area of offensive action, or before the ball is released on a throw-in.

A technical foul is a separate category. It is the penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct or violations by team members on the floor or on the bench, and it is not a personal foul.

Rule 3, Section I says a player is disqualified from the game when he receives his sixth personal foul. The scorers must notify the officials immediately when a sixth personal foul, or a second unsportsmanlike technical foul, is called on any player. A disqualified player may not re-enter the game.

There is one exception for a short bench. No team may be reduced to fewer than five players, so if a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, that player stays in the game and is charged with a personal and a team foul. A technical foul is also assessed against his team, and all later personal fouls, including offensive fouls, are treated the same way.

Personal fouls also add up for the team. Rule 12, Section V sets a limit of four team fouls per regulation period without additional penalties.

For the first four common fouls in a regulation period, the ball is awarded to the opposing team on the sideline nearest where play was interrupted, no nearer to the baseline than the free throw line extended. A team that has not used its four fouls in the first ten minutes of a period, or its three fouls in the first three minutes of an overtime period, may commit one foul in the last two minutes without penalty.

Flagrant, punching, away-from-the-play, clear path and transition take fouls carry their own separate penalties and are included in the team foul total. The scorers record the number of team fouls on the scoreboard up to five, which indicates that the team is in a penalty situation.

All wording comes from the official 2025-26 NBA playing rules: Rule 3 for the six-foul limit and the five-player rule, Rule 4 for the definitions of the fouls, and Rule 12 for the team foul limits and the free throw penalty. The rulebook does not define the five positions, so the explanation of PF as power forward is the common convention and not a rule.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page was checked against the 2025-26 edition. More basketball pages are collected on the NBA hub, and the page about steps in basketball covers another rule from the same rulebook.