Conflict of Interest: The NBA's Drug Testing Policy

In the decade after the end of the steroid era in baseball, drug testing in that sport has reached a new level of efficiency. In an average year, several players are suspended for testing positive to banned substances which are often times difficult to detect. While performance enhancing drugs have had a major effect on baseball, the same has not been the case for the other three major American sports. While it is not totally clear as to why this is, at least a portion of this can be attributed to the fact that these leagues do not have adequate drug testing.  The NBA seems to be the worst offender of this.

Recently, the director of the World Anti-Doping Agency singled out the NBA as having "gaps" in their testing program. This brings attention to what is an often ignored issue in the NBA, the potential use of PEDs by some of the leagues biggest stars. In the age of drug suspensions, the amount that has been handed out by the NBA is dwarfed by the amount MLB has issued. While this could potentially be due to the fact that NBA players simply do not use PEDs at the rate that baseball players do, there seems to be major flaws in the league's drug testing policy. 

Presently, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is banned in the NBA, but the league does not test players for it. While, testing may come in the near future, the league does nothing to prevent abuse of perhaps the most prominent PED. Regardless of any difficulty that the league would face getting approval for testing from the player's union, as of right now the leagues owners don't seem to be in a rush to implement it. In theory, targeting the NBA's best players could prove to be a major conflict of interest. For instance, in the scenario that a player like Lebron James were to test positive, the league as a whole would face major ramifications. The profit that one player like James provides is exponential. The NBA would forever lose the marketability of one of their biggest stars. In this context, it is easy to see why drug testing is not the first priority in professional basketball.