World Anti-Doping Agency Says NBA Has ‘Gaps’


With the Lance Armstrong saga dominating the news cycle this week, it was only a matter of time until the media glare turned to the NBA and the way it deals with doping. The director of the WADA was critical of the League and its program. From ESPN: “The director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the NBA’s anti-doping program is insufficient. ‘They’ve got gaps in their program, between what they do and what we suggest would be better,’ David Howman said. ‘They know what we would suggest,’ added Howman, who calls for the NBA to test for human growth hormone, among other things. ‘And I would just hope that they would be discussing all of those things rather than just putting them on the side table.’ The NBA declined comment. […] Howman’s concern is that practices that have evidently been effective in other sports are not all being deployed in the NBA. In the past, including in testimony before Congress in 2005, NBA officials have made the case that performance-enhancing drugs are unlikely to be effective in basketball. ‘They do not feel they have such an issue as the other major leagues and therefore haven’t addressed it in quite the same way,’ Howman said. ‘I just think you’ve got to be very careful when you start saying performance-enhancing drugs are not beneficial in any sport, because you’re going to be proven wrong. And you’ll be proven wrong when you’re not expecting it.’ At present, HGH is banned in the NBA, but the league does not test players’ blood for it. WADA strongly recommends the test, deployed by many sporting organizations, including the Olympics and, in limited ways, Major League Baseball. The NFL is interested in implementing the test but faces hurdles from the union. The NBA and its Players’ Association have formed a committee to explore HGH testing, but no progress has been reported. As of yet, no major North American leagues have adopted WADA’s full code of recommendations. Howman said there has been progress in football and baseball, but noted basketball is a laggard.”