Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports
Donovan Mitchell’s 71 points against the Chicago Bulls drew attention from all over the world, possibly from the NBA’s drug-testing officials.
It’s been a running joke for years — random drug tests for professional sports leagues always seem to focus on a player the day after a landmark performance. It was Corey Brewer Randomly drug test The next day to score 51 points in 2014. was Bradley Beal Randomly drug test After consecutive 50-point games in 2020. Heck, Michael Carter Williams And De’Aaron Fox once had it Randomly drug test After posting collage workout photos on Instagram.
Now you can go ahead and add Donovan Mitchell to the list after he scored 71 points against the Chicago Bulls and was then promptly flagged for testing.
Why did NBA drug test Donovan Mitchell?
The NBA’s drug-testing program, which no longer includes marijuana, is administered according to the rules set forth in the NBA CBA. It is not clear from the public version of the document the mechanism for randomly selecting players and dates, however, there is a provision allowing players to be targeted for testing for “reasonable cause”. This type of test is run “When the National Basketball Association or the Players Association has information that gives it reasonable cause to believe that the player is involved in the use, possession, or distribution of a prohibited substance.”
Is scoring 71 points in an overtime game against a struggling Chicago Bulls defense a “reasonable reason” to assume that something like human growth hormone was used? Perhaps reasonable people can disagree.
The truth is, this is probably just a funny coincidence.
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