After Team USA’s men’s basketball roster bagged the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, everyone expected the celebrations to kick off immediately. However, the Olympic committee crashed the party, saying ‘Not so fast!’ They couldn’t proceed without having a couple of players undergo random drug testing to ensure everything was above board. As it turns out, the test wasn’t so random, since the players who undertook the same included Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry. Along with both of them participating and winning in their very first Olympics run, the only other similarity that they had was their dominance throughout the series!

Both Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant recently participated in a panel discussion with Jalen Rose at the Fanatics Fest. During the conversation, when the topic shifted to the details of the post-game celebration, the 23-year-old revealed that he, Durant, and Curry couldn’t join in the locker room festivities right away because they had to first clear a drug test. “It’s only right. They gave Steph one.” Edwards said, adding that “he (Curry) was supposed to got one after the first Serbia game.”

As it turns out, it is allegedly a common practice in the NBA for players to undergo a drug test after a sudden spike in performance.
In February 2023, following a matchup against the Houston Rockets, then-Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard revealed that he had undergone a “blood-draw drug test” for the first time in his decade-long NBA career.

The test came after an extraordinary game where Lillard set a career-high and a Trail Blazers record by scoring 71 points, including 13 three-pointers. This achievement made him the eighth player in NBA history to score 70 points in a single game and the first to do so in under 40 minutes. However, any euphoria Lillard might have felt was quickly dampened by the unexpected drug test.

“I know I got a lot of tattoos, but when you’re doing a blood-draw, it’s different than tattoos,” Lillard said. “It brought me down from here (placing his hand high) to the floor, all the way until it was done. And then once I finished it, I was like ‘All right, I got that out of the way.’” The request for a blood-draw only a day after he did a urine test really had the player going “Are y’all serious?”

Similarly, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, and Kevin Durant, who had some of the highest efficiency ratings on Team USA, were also targeted for testing after their stellar performances. Curry, who struggled in the early games, turned things around in the last two matchups against Serbia and France, scoring 36 and 24 points, respectively. Before Serbia, the 36-year-old had only managed 7 and 8 points in the previous games. This sudden surge in performance, which played a crucial role in securing the gold medal for Team USA, may have prompted the committee to request the drug test.

Even NBA players have come to expect that a sudden spike in performance will attract unwanted attention from drug testers. This is why Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell took it in stride when he was tested after scoring 71 points against the Chicago Bulls in January 2023. The NBA’s vigilant eye was evident even back in 2021 when Michael Carter-Williams was tested just a day after posting a photo of himself looking buff on social media—a situation Mo Bamba ironically predicted would lead to a test.

While the NBA’s drug-testing policies may seem excessive to some, past incidents have made the league cautious. During the 2019-20 season, DeAndre Ayton was suspended for 25 games after a drug test following his 18-point, 11-rebound performance came back positive.In the same season, Atlanta Hawks star John Collins was suspended for 25 games for testing positive for GHRP-2. Earlier, Joakim Noah missed 20 games for a drug policy violation, and Rashard Lewis was sidelined for 10 games due to elevated testosterone levels. Given these precedents, the NBA’s cautious approach is understandable.

Given these precedents, both players and fans must be cautious about drug speculation. For example, Tyrese Maxey’s fans learned this lesson the hard way.

Tyrese Maxey jokes: fans are to blame for his drug test

In July 2024, Tyrese Maxey revealed he was drug-tested by the NBA during the off-season. He humorously took to X, jokingly blaming his fans with the post, “I really got drug tested because of y’all.”

Just four days before Maxey announced his drug test, a video of him went viral showing the 23-year-old practicing intensely despite tough defense. Social media users praised his physique, which, along with the video’s hype, sparked speculation about performance enhancers. This speculation reached the league as well.

What are your thoughts on the NBA’s drug-testing policies? Let us know in the comments below.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.