Report: NBA, players' association far apart on HGH testing deal
The NBA and players' association are reportedly far apart on a potential HGH testing deal. (Photo by Brett Davis/USATSI)
With the opening of NBA training camps on the horizon this week, the league and players' association are still far apart on a potential deal to implement testing for human growth hormone, CBS Sports' Ken Berger reported Monday.
From the report:
Officials from the league office and National Basketball Players Association met earlier this month in New York to continue discussions on the matter, but a person familiar with the talks told CBSSports.com, "Nothing is anywhere near being agreed to." The negotiations are ongoing, but the gap may be too wide to close in time for a policy to be in place in time for the start of the regular season.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said back in February that he hoped the NBA would follow Major League Baseball’s lead by adopting blood testing for HGH by the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
“We watch what’s going on in baseball, we watch the negotiations that are going in with football, and it is my expectation that by next season [we] will be doing blood testing for HGH,” Stern told WCCO radio in Minnesota. “Our players have been terrific. They lead this in some ways, saying, ‘ We do not want to have anything less than the best.’ That’s been the way it’s been since 1983.”
