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NBA Suspends Bucks' Bobby Portis for 25 Games for Violating Anti-Drug Policy
Milwaukee Bucks center Bobby Portis has been suspended by the NBA for 25 games, ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Thursday morning. Portis violated the league's anti-drug policy, and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, released a statement to ESPN alleging his client accidentally mixed up pain medications.
Just In: The NBA has suspended Milwaukee Bucks' Bobby Portis for 25 games for violating the league's anti-drug policy, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/FeSDo4jb0k
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 20, 2025
"Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called Tramadol, thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol," Bartelstein's statement read in part. "Toradol is an approved pain medication that he has used previously and that teams and players use for pain and inflammation at times. Tramadol, however, is not an approved pain medication and was just recently added to the banned substance list this past spring."
The full statement can be found below:
Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports to ESPN on client Bobby Portis' 25-game suspension, detailing what took place: https://t.co/sB9vmPVYxA pic.twitter.com/tVvbotBJlt
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 20, 2025
Portis, 30, is averaging 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game for the Bucks this season. His suspension will cause him to miss all but four of his team's last 29 games in the 2024-25 season. Milwaukee exits the All-Star break 29-24, fifth in the East.
The Bucks are slated to host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night and will do so without one of the roster's best glue guys.
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Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.