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Okay. Well.
So much for having nice things. Deandre Ayton might miss a lot of the Phoenix Suns season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
Suns center Deandre Ayton is facing a 25-game suspension for violating NBA’s Anti-Drug policy with a positive test for a diuretic, league sources tell ESPN. The NBA informed Ayton and Suns of looming suspension tonight.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 25, 2019
I don’t even know what to think about this. Apparently, he was trying to manage weight, and used the wrong thing.
Expect an appeal, but I don’t know if there’s much of a way around this.
—UPDATE
The NBPA is already preparing arbitration case to reduce or rescind penalty, based on belief positive test falls under CBA provision of ‘unintentional ingestion', league sources tell ESPN. Ayton was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. https://t.co/UM34cCc3Ol
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 25, 2019
So, a diuretic traditionally is used for rapid weight loss, but has often been used by drug abusers to hide the presence of another (worse) drug in advance of a drug test.
Clearly, the NBAPA is is fighting this, but that’s the reason a “water pill” carries such a high penalty.
OOOF
—Another UPDATE
Follow-up testing on Phoenix's Deandre Ayton showed no traces of any other banned substances, sources with knowledge of results tell ESPN. NBPA is likely to fast-track arbitration process to push for a reduction as soon as possible, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 25, 2019
Here’s Dave and Espo going on a rant about this...