And-Ones: Marijuana Testing, Toronto, Fraud Case, NBA Academy

The NBA won’t subject its players to random marijuana tests during the 2021/22 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The NBPA sent out a memo this week informing players of the news.

Random marijuana testing had been a part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the players’ union, but the two sides agreed not to resume those tests during the 2020 bubble in Orlando and has stuck with that policy ever since.

While the NBA will continue to test players for performance-enhancers and drugs of abuse, it wouldn’t be surprise me if the NBA and NBPA eventually agree to end random marijuana testing permanently.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • NBA players have been informed that if they’re unvaccinated and violate quarantine guidelines while visiting Toronto, they could face criminal charges in Canada, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Unvaccinated players will be able to play in Toronto, but can only leave their hotel for team activities. The Raptors have indicated they’ll be fully vaccinated for the season.
  • Joe Vardon of The Athletic provides a few more details from the indictment against 18 former NBA players accused of defrauding the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan. According to Vardon, Tony Allen, Glen Davis, and Tony Wroten submitted claims for root canals purportedly performed on the same teeth on the same day.
  • In an Insider-only story for ESPN, Jonathan Givony checks in on the NBA Academy program, five years after its inception, to evaluate whether it has been a success so far and to consider where it will go from here.
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