Adam Silver hasn’t taken over as commissioner for David Stern quite yet, but the deputy commissioner does have some big plans when he takes over the NBA’s top spot. One of his biggest goals is to implement testing for the performance-enhancing substance HGH, according to a report from the New York Post’s Tim Bontemps.
NBA wants to add HGH testing, Adam Silver says
The ongoing HGH scandal in baseball has prompted NBA deputy commissioner to take a stance on the performance-enhancing drug in the NBA, saying he’s planning to add testing for the substance in the near future.
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Silver doesn’t believe that any changes as far as testing for human growth hormones will happen until the players’ association hires a new executive director, because both the union and the NBA owners would have to agree on such a change.
“One of the changes that we know we’ll be making to our current drug testing is the addition of HGH testing, which requires taking blood from the players,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told The Post last week. “We want to make sure, on behalf of our players, as well, that’s it’s done in the proper way, and that we understand what are the appropriate baselines for a natural substance, like HGH, so we can detect where there are aberrations. That is something we’re very focused on.”
It’ll be interesting to see if the players push back on having to undergo blood testing throughout the season, since it’s not something they currently have to do.
it was collectively bargained during the long NBA lockout, however, as the NBA and the NBPA agreed in the most recent CBA that HGH testing would commence once an independent panel confirms the reliability of the test. That hasn’t happened yet, but it should happen soon as HGH testing is probably a necessary step for the league.
The league does have a policy for anyone it catches with the current testing, however, as PED users are subject to a 20-game ban for their first offense, 45 for a second offense and a lifetime ban if they’re caught a third time. Silver also said that he doesn’t expect any NBA players to be discovered in the ongoing Biogenesis investigation that has most affected MLB to this point.
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