The NBA has revealed that Nets forward Wilson Chandler will miss the first 25 games of the regular season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug called Ipamorelin, as we detailed on Thursday.
In the wake of that suspension, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) took a deep dive into the league’s stance on PEDs and noted that Chandler becomes just the second player to serve such a suspension under the league’s latest set of governing rules.
When the NBA and NBPA debuted their new collective bargaining agreement ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, it came with stricter rules regarding steroids and PEDs. Only Jodie Meeks had been tagged with a suspension since the new document went live.
According to the CBA, the default punishment for a first offense is 25 games. Meeks split his 25 games between the 2018 postseason and the first 19 games of the 2018/19 regular season. Prior to the new CBA, players like Joakim Noah and Hedo Turkoglu faced varying punishments for PED use.
The Nets will now have several options for how they want to proceed. As of November 2, after the team plays its fifth game of Chandler’s suspension, they can move him to the Suspended List and free up a roster spot. Alternatively the club could waive a player altogether – they’ve got 15 guaranteed contracts – and look for a replacement… like *cough* Carmelo Anthony *clears throat*.
There’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Although he’s a member of the Celtics now, forward Gordon Hayward is a product of Indiana and is on the short list of humans most capable of understanding the thought process behind Andrew Luck’s decision to retire from the NFL. “It sucks; you feel isolated,” Hayward, no stranger to extensive rehabilitation, told A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports. “It feels like a job because you’re not getting to do the fun parts of it. And you always have those [thoughts], ‘What if I’m not the same player?’ You have to bottle that and just focus on the present … I understand exactly where [Luck is] coming from.“
- He signed a two-year, $4.1MM deal to remain with the Sixers, but James Ennis had other, more lucrative offers on the table in free agency. Ennis recently told Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer that he chose to stay with the team that acquired him mid-season last year because he’d like to remain in Philly long-term. Hoops Rumors’ own J.D. Shaw connected with Ennis in June and the veteran wing spoke highly of the support the 76ers give their players.
- Do the Knicks have a plan? Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes that the organization has been relatively silent after an interesting – and at times puzzling – offseason.
Lol the cough Carmelo Anthony thing…
slow clap
Knicks plan seems obvious to me: keep cap flexibility and acquire assets by signing, showcasing, and then trading good rotation players. Randle, Gibson, and Morris are all tradeable. As long as the Knicks aren’t playing these trade candidates at the expense of the young guys, it’s good strategy.
For the first time in a long time, the Knicks seem like they know what they’re doing.
There’s a decent chance they could end up with AD next year.
No. No there isn’t. That’s about as likely as Houston winning a chip with Harden hah!
Don’t think they trade Randle this year but marcus Morris definitely getting traded to a playoff team
Don’t know how you can have faith in the Knicks triumvirate Mills has been part and parcel of every bad Knick decision for the last 20 years. Dolan’s flunky. Perry’s drafts in Orlando: Herzonja Peyton Gordon Isaacs and Knox who is awful How do you draft a player whose rep is low energy. Worst defensive metrics in the league. Then instead of signing a coach of the year ( budenholzer) they hire a guy whose claim to fame is he didn’t get along with his best player, a European, when your best player is a European and then they tell Porzingis sit tight we’ll pay you next year after he suffers an injury everyone comes back from while he looks around and says in my first 3 years I only played 15 less games than AD and he got paid. I played twice as many games as Embid and he got paid. Not surprised he wanted out. As long as Dolan is here we lose and no one comes. ( been a fan since 1965 and a former season ticket holder)
Anything Butt-Hurt Bondy says about the Knicks is fallacious
If the NYK give big minutes to otherwise undeserving young players who are getting their hats handed to them in practice, get ready for another bunch of “selfish” bench players and unqualified starters drive the team to another 17 win season (+/- 5). I am sure AD will look at this mess and smile at the billboards of him in a NYK uniform that will pop up in Manhattan next spring.
What’s so hard to understand about Andrew Luck, he is doing the right thing & hopefully many more players follow his example… no point in earning another $500M & not be able to walk or live a normal life at 40-45.
He has earned already way too much for a good life, so is time to call it a day, kudos for him.
Any normal person can see that, anyone criticizing him shows it ain’t very bright.
Indiana hasn’t gotten a starting QB now… what about Colin Kaepernick, he is available & a starting QB, no other option for the Colts… but probably they will just stick to idiotic politics & suck for the next 5 years, oh well…
Thank you for your valuable, measured insights on racism IslandFlava. Truly enlightening.