Major League Baseball has been embroiled in steroid scandal for the better part of a decade now. It has come to a head with MLB aggressively pursuing suspensions on former MVPs Ryan Braun (he accepted a plea deal) and Alex Rodriguez (he might be facing a lifetime ban if he does not accept a deal).
Those suspensions are coming down the pike very soon if baseball is your sport.
But Biogenesis, the company that allegedly provided performance enhancing drugs to several baseball players, did not just serve baseball players. There were track and field stars on their client list and many others.
There were, at one time, unsubstantiated rumors that NBA players were going to be ensnared in this trap. Nothing ever came from those rumors and nothing appears to be coming from them now that the Biogenesis investigation appears to be wrapping up.
Ric Bucher of Comcast SportsNet reports the NBA likely only has a tangential relationship with Biogenesis, and a very small one at that:
While there were recent indications the NBA could be dragged into the Biogenesis scandal, a league source says that the evidence it has gathered shows only one NBA player "might" be involved. NBA HQ apparently has been doing its own investigating and is cautiously optimistic that there was neither wholesale involvement nor a big-name player from its ranks.
This is good news for the NBA as performance enhancing drugs have largely stayed out of the limelight with regards to the league. No one is naive enough to say PEDs do not exist within the NBA, but no one would say they are a major problem.
Even though Congress has put David Stern under fire for his league's apparent lax drug enforcement program, nothing suggests PEDs are a problem in the NBA. Reports recently came out suggesting the NBA was going to approach the NBPA soon about instituting HGH testing.
Hopefully, the NBA and its players continue to steer clear of this controversy.
