Drug rehab is vital to NBA

Recent Manila visitor NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum said the league works closely with the NBA Players Association on programs that rehabilitate those who test positive for prohibited drugs. More than just ferreting out who’s positive and who’s not, Tatum said the NBA is concerned about getting users out of the list.

Tatum pointed out that in the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the Players Association, there is a list of what drugs to test for. “If a player tests positive for a drug, we notify the union and we notify the player,” he said. “We’re working very closely with the union on different programs that rehabilitate players and with players dealing with a positive drug test.” The testing is for recreational and performance-enhancing drugs but Tatum said there are “some differences” in the banned substances in the FIBA list.

“For the most part, they’re very similar with FIBA but there are some differences as ours is collectively bargained with the Players Association,” he said. “Performance-enhancing drugs are very much a part of our banned substance list and what would be characterized as a performance-enhancing drug is obviously listed and discussed with our Players Association. And those are constantly changing as we get new information about different performance-enhancing drugs. Those are things we discuss with our union. We’ll either add from the list or remove from the list.”

In the PBA, performance-enhancing drugs as such are not monitored. Random tests are administered only to trace marijuana and methamphetamine (shabu) among players through a urinalysis. To a certain extent, shabu is considered a performance-enhancing drug. Since PBA players in the SBP’s RTP (registered training pool) are subject to FIBA doping tests, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial is studying a proposal to align PBA testing protocols with FIBA. 

Tatum, 48, said the NBA has embraced international players in the spirit of globalization and growing the sport world-wide. “Right now, we have 108 players born outside the US or 25 percent of our players in the league,” he said. “Just look at the game today and the influence of players like Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Ben Simmons (Australia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece). They’re all incredible, young international players who are seven-footers and can shoot the ball. Giannis is a 6-11 point guard, Kristaps can shoot the three just like Dirk Nowitzki when he came into the league as a 7-footer. They’re more versatile and bring a different perspective and a unique aspect of the game. Where they’re so skilled and they’re big and they can shoot, play multiple positions – that’s the influence we’re seeing they’re having on the game. On the business side, on the fans’ side, they’re attracting new generations of fans from those countries and from around the world who are just impressed with the amount of talent that these international players have.” 

Tatum said down the road, there may be a possibility of the NBA champion team battling titlists from the Euro and other continental leagues for a universal crown but there are logistical challenges to making it happen. “The team that wins the NBA championship isn’t always the same team that would compete in the McDonald’s Championship which was an international tournament in the past,” he said. “It’s something that I think we would always look to consider. We obviously have played against other international teams in the preseason. We would go to Europe and play against Euro League teams. It’s something the NBA clubs are doing and enjoy doing and we could see some competitions down the road. Maybe, it’s the NBA champion, maybe it’s some other kind of NBA Cup that the NBA teams participate in.”

In tomorrow’s column, Tatum talks about his Vietnamese roots, NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s administration, the NBA Retired Players Association, contact in a player’s landing spot and the Hack-A-Shaq tactic.