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Former Arkansas forward Bobby Portis has been suspended 25 games by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
Portis tested positive for the drug tramadol, a pain relief medication on the banned substances list. The suspension sidelines Portis for most of the remainder of the regular season. With the Milwaukee Bucks this season, Portis has appeared in 46 games while making 7 starts. He’s averaging 13.7 points per game and 8.3 rebounds while playing 25.2 minutes a night.
His agent, Mark Bartelstein, told ESPN the positive drug test was the result of nothing more than an honest mistake.
“Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called tramadol, thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol. Toradol is an approved pain medication that he has used previously and that teams and players use for pain and inflammation at times,” Bartelstein told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “Tramadol, however, is not an approved pain medication and was just recently added to the banned substance list this past spring. The tramadol pill he took came from an assistant of his, with a valid prescription for the painkiller, which he mistakenly told Bobby was Toradol.
“This was, again, an honest mistake that was made because of the similarity in the names of the drugs and the fact they both serve a very similar purpose. Bobby was using this anti-inflammatory pain-reducing medication to deal with an elbow injury he had this past fall and believed he was taking Toradol to alleviate some pain in preparation for that night’s game.”
Portis will be eligible to return on April 8 when Milwaukee faces the Minnesota Timberwolves. He’ll be eligible for the remaining 4 regular-season games before the Playoffs begin. Milwaukee is currently the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
A consensus All-American and the SEC Player of the Year in 2015, Portis is not expected to appeal the suspension.
“We support the league’s anti-drug policy and its purpose in having a fair, competitive, healthy landscape for our athletes as it relates to drugs of
abuse, performance-enhancing issues, etc. … Today, in this instance, I am so deeply disappointed that the NBA chooses to interpret its policy so
strictly, and that the policy does not allow for a different result for an honest mistake with pure intentions,” Bartelstein said in his statement to ESPN.
“Bobby loves being a part of the NBA and he loves being a role model and a true ambassador for the Bucks and the city of Milwaukee. This has been incredibly difficult for him, but he will accept this penalty with grace and turn this into a great opportunity to improve and further build his reputation and performance in every way, both on and off the court.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
