NBA Commissioner David Stern said he expects the league by next season "will do blood testing for HGH." Speaking on WCCO-AM's "The Chad Hartman Show," Stern said HGH currently is on the NBA's banned substance list, but "there hasn’t been a favored testing protocol yet." However, the league is watching "what’s going on in baseball" and monitoring the negotiations in the NFL. Stern: “Our players have been terrific here. They lead this in some ways, saying, ‘We do not want to have anything less than the best.’” Hartman noted unlike the NFL and MLB, the NBA “has stayed out of the headlines in this.” Stern said, “Because we tend to be quiet on this subject, no one focuses on our testing program” (WCCO-AM, 2/6). Knicks C Tyson Chandler said of a prospective HGH test, “I think it’s good. They can test for everything as far as I’m concerned. There is no need for any drug in any game whether its steroids or HGH or anything that can give a player an edge.” Knicks F Kurt Thomas: “It was just a matter of time before the NBA tests for it and I think it’s a good idea” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/7).
A SIGN OF THE TIMES: CBSSPORTS.com’s Zach Harper wrote with steroids and HGH “being phased out with stricter drug testing” in MLB and the NFL, the NBA is the “other major sports league that needs to be able to monitor the use of HGH among its players.” It is “not a big concern that players are currently using it in the NBA, but to not have the test in place anyway seems to be ignoring the possibility and living behind the times.” Such a move is “sure to be implemented" before Stern cedes his role to NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/6). YAHOO SPORTS’ Eric Freeman noted the NBA for the most part “has not been involved in the biggest scandals involving PEDs.” Stern wants to bring in HGH testing “as a sort of preventative measure, or maybe even an attempt to find out if there's a previously unidentified problem” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/6).
