Soon-to-be NBA commissioner Adam Silver has adding HGH testing high on his list of priorities once he succeeds retiring boss David Stern.
According to reports, Silver, who now serves as deputy commissioner, plans to begin campaigning for human growth hormone testing as soon as the player’s assocation hires a new executive director to replace the ousted Billy Hunter. Silver officially takes over as commissioner once Stern retires at the end of the 2014 season.
"One of the changes that we know we'll be making to our current drug testing is the addition of HGH testing, which requires taking blood from the players," Silver recently told reporters. "We want to make sure, on behalf of our players, as well, that's it's done in the proper way, and that we understand what are the appropriate baselines for a natural substance, like HGH, so we can detect where there are aberrations. That is something we're very focused on."
Enactment of the measure will require the approval of both the players union and NBA owners, but Silver insists he’s heard nothing but accord from both camps on proposed changes.
“It’s why, even in the collective bargaining agreement, this was not a point of contention,” he said. “Both for the player representatives and the owners who participated, this is an issue where it is in everybody’s interest to have state-of-the-art drug testing, and to have a level playing field for all players, because we recognize it’s not fair for a player to believe that in order to compete, and in order to keep his job, he has to do something that one could potentially harm his body and number two could potentially get him in trouble.”
Silver added league officials have been closely monitoring the Biogenesis case involving several major league baseball players, but contrary to an earlier report isn’t aware of any connection between the clinic and any of its players.
“We’ve been actively working to understand the situation and to the extent possible to learn what is being uncovered by MLB’s investigation,” he said, adding “we are not aware of any involvement by NBA players.”
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