Milwaukee Bucks star, Bobby Portis, has been suspended by the NBA for 25 games after violating the league anti -drug policy, according to multiple reports.
According NBA insider Chris HaynesPortis “without knowing it” took this substance that will be lost all but the last four games of the regular season.
In a statement issued by Portis agent, Mark Bartelstein, the 30 -year -old accidentally took Tramadol, a substance that was recently banned by the NBA last spring.
Portis was under the assumption that he was taking Toradol, a pain medication that the league cleared.
“The tramadol pill he took from an assistant to his, with a valid recipe for the analgesic, who mistakenly told Bobby that it was Toradol,” Bartelstein said.
'This was, again, an honest mistake that was committed due to the similarity in drug names and the fact that both have a very similar purpose. Bobby was using this anti -inflammatory medication that reduces pain to deal with an injury in the elbow that had past autumn and believed that he was taking toast to relieve some pain in the preparation for the game that night.
BUCKS BOBBY Portis has been suspended 25 games for violating NBA drug policy
Bartelstein added that his client was a “great person, teammate and professional, and has a wonderful reputation in our league, his communities and his team.”
Later in the statement, Bartelstein said that he and his client support the drug policy of the League.
He added: 'Bobby Portis is not absolutely a drug abuser. Bobby works tirelessly to increase his performance naturally, legal and healthy, but made an error and took a pill that without knowing it should not have.
“Today, in this case, I am deeply disappointed that the NBA chooses to interpret its policy so strictly, and that politics does not allow a different result for an honest error with pure intentions.”
The Tramadol was added to the 2024 list of medicines prohibited by the AMA, the world anti -doping agency, after research studies found that it had the potential to improve sports performance.
A used article, the United States anti -doping agency, in 2017 highlighted the addictive trends of the narcotic pain killer that at that time prevailed for its rampant use in cycling.
More to follow.