Does the NBA need stricter anti doping rules?
The NBA (National Basketball Associattion) is the best
league in the United States and one of the most famous leagues in the world.
There we can see some of the greatest players of the world, as LeBron James,
Stephen Curry or Pau Gasol, who can play until four matches everyweek keeping
an amazing performance. 82 matches in 6 months!! But, this is possible without
taking any type of doping?
First, you should know that the NBA does not sign the World Anti-Doping Code, made by the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency), so most of the
rules that are applied in the rest of the world do not appear in their own
code, that sign the differents members of the NBPA (National Basketball Players
Association). Moreover, the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) can not
control the doping in the league, they only can do it in the international
events as Olympic Games or Paralympic Games.
Some famous ex
players and ex coaches as Richard Hamilton, Travis Tygart or George Karl, has
told about this topic, saying that it is a problem that need other solutions.
The last one have said this:
‘’We’ve got a more thorough drug-testing program than the NFL or MLB, which we always brag about. But we’ve still got a drug issue, though a different one than thirty years ago. And this one bothers me more than the dumbasses who got in trouble with recreational drugs.I’m talking about performance-enhancing drugs—like steroids, human growth hormone, and so on. It’s obvious some of our players are doping. How are some guys getting older—yet thinner and fitter? How are they recovering from injuries so fast? Why the hell are they going to Germany in the off-season? I doubt it’s for the sauerkraut.More likely it’s for the newest, hard-to-detect blood boosters and PEDs they have in Europe. Unfortunately, drug testing always seems to be a couple steps behind drug hiding. Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test. I think we want the best athletes to succeed, not the biggest, richest cheaters employing the best scientists. But I don’t know what to do about it.’’
In the next PDF you can see some anti doping rules and the forbidden substances by the NBA.
(collected from https://www.nba.com/media/CBA101_9.12.pdf)
The anti doping program
There is a maximum
of 1525 antidoping controls during the league and 600 when they are not playing
in the NBA. Each player can ‘’suffer’’ until six urine controls (only two of
them in holidays). Also, they can do 3 blood controls to each player (2 during
the competition) to detect the growth hormone.
The penalties change
between the different players and drugs. For example, a rookie who has consume
cocaine would not play for a year, while a player who has played in the league
two or more years would have a penalty of two years. The drugs that have the
biggest penalties are the ‘’drugs of abuse’’ (cocaine, LSD...) while growth
hormone or EPO (SPED drugs) have less penalties.
Examples
One of the most known examples of permitted doping is the case of Deron Williams. The ex Nets player did not play in the 2013 All Star Game because he was taking a treatment based on cortisone. In that moment, the cortisone was forbidden by the WADA, but not by the NBA, so he did not receive any penalty.
In the other hand,
the ex player of Chicago Bulls and actual player of New York Knicks Joakim Noah
had a penalty of 20 matches without playing for his team because of doping.
This is an example that confirm us that sometimes we can see anti doping
penalties in the NBA.
To sum up, we want
to know your opinion. What do you think about this topic? Are the anti doping
NBA rules more flexible with the player than other anti doping rules as the
publicated by the WADA?
Thanks for coming,
Sergio Torreblanca
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