After the first round of postseason elimination, despite having 7x All-Star Joel Embiid and young gun Tyrese Maxey, the Philadelphia 76ers are grinding this offseason to reaffirm their NBA title claim next season. Since signing the third-star PG to their roster, their efforts have increased as we get to see Tyrese Maxey practicing dribbling and defensive exercises on Instagram. But, apart from his viral moments, what fans also noted was that the 23-year-old had really put on some muscle in his body.

Witnessing such sudden change, the fans, as expected, got suspicious of any doping as they demanded a drug test for the Sixers point guard, and guess what… It happened!

Tyrese Maxey reshared a post from user Stadiumliveapp that demanded a drug test of the Sixers player on his IG story with the caption, “I really got tested because of y’all!!!!😞”

Apparently, the NBA authorities conducted a test to determine if the 23-year-old was on any drug or not. It was quite random since there was no scheduled test for the Sixers star, and seemingly, it might be potentially prompted by the narrative flowing on social media. But is it a surprise for the athletes? Definitely not!

NBA Players who got randomly tested just like Tyrese Maxey in the past

Several athletes shared the same fate in the past, facing random drug tests after they shared post-workout pics of themselves, their edited images going viral on the internet, or a sudden visit from the authorities out of the blue. Tyrese Maxey is just one of those cases. Here are times when NBA players got tested by the drug monitoring powers in the league.

Ja Morant

As the NBA’s CBA lays down that the authorities can conduct four PED tests during the regular and two during the off-season, Memphis Grizzlies‘ point guard hit that wall in January 2023 when the authorities tested him for the seventh time in the 2022-23 season. While updating the fans about his drug test last year on X, Ja Morant captioned the post, “been drug tested like 6 times this season. walked into the arena & found out I got another one today😂🙄😒.”

Before that, he got drug tested six times, including the one back in November 2022, when he unexpectedly recovered quickly from his left ankle inflammation.

De’Aaron Fox

De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings was working quite hard on his frame during the 2021 offseason when he was bulking up. As per the Kings’ play-by-play announcer Mark Jones, Fox weighed 9 pounds more than the last 2021 season, and he was on his way to getting pumped up even more.

Marking such progress, the Kings point guard shared an image of himself on X from the gym on September 7, 2021. Call it a mere coincidence or fate, but a day later, he got a text from the doping control authorities for a scheduled drug test ahead of the regular season of the NBA.

It was Recee Caldwell, Fox‘s fiance, who revealed the test update to the fans on her IG story after De’Aaron’s pic was circulating all over social media.

Michael Carter-Williams

The Orlando Magic point guard once flaunted his offseason bulk on his Instagram account. As the fans witnessed the marvelous physique of Michael Carter-Williams, they randomly speculated that the player might get tested for it.

Coincidentally, a day later, authorities actually tested the Magic guard for doping, which fans presumed might be because of the new pic he added to his social media account.

Alex Caruso

The guard spot for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Alex Caruso, met a similar fate as Tyrese Maxey in the 2019 offseason in September. However, this time, it was not any kind of workout image or video. Rather, someone photoshopped his image from the gym, posting a bulked-up image of the Lakers guard on social media. It insanely spread on the internet considering the pale physique that the player had at that time.

However, a week after the picture from the weight room went viral, Caruso shared on his IG story that he got a random offseason test from the league.

Are the doping tests associated with Tyrese Maxey and others coincidental or driven by public agenda?

Fortunately, all these tests that athletes got randomly are mere coincidences. The NBA conducts tons of such tests every season and off-season. As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s Section 6, referred to as the “Anti-Drug Program,” it is stipulated that a player “shall be required to undergo testing for Prohibited Substances at any time, without prior notice to the player, no more than four (4) times each Season and no more than two (2) times during each Off-Season.”

Also, as per the rules, players can undergo tests “according to a random player selection procedure by a third-party organization.”

This random selection is something that the teams and players are completely unaware of. The third-party company that makes the random selection is Drug-Free Sport. On top of that, another out-of-context rule causes the test since, as per the program, authorities can test a player “based on a reasonable cause at any time” by a computerized random selection. Although there is no clear definition of the reasonable cause in the agreement.

Overall, there are loopholes in the NBA doping test law analogy that seem fit to be addressed. But until then, it is safe to presume that an authority like the NBA conducting such tests won’t do it out of bad will or going for any public agenda. What are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.