Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis has been banned by the NBA for 25 games for testing positive for Tramadol......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
The NBA announced on Thursday that the 2021 Champion has violated the league’s anti-drug policy, the ban will see him miss the majority of the remainder of the season.
He is not expected to appeal the ban, and he will be eligible to return on April 8 against the Minnesota Timberwolves — with four games left in the regular season.
He will lose $2.85 million with the 25-game suspension.
Portis’ representative, Mark Bartelstein described it as an accident, stating that he wanted to take another medication for pain killers.
He said: “I am devastated for Bobby right now because he made an honest mistake and the ramifications of it are incredibly significant.
“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. 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 suspension is a major blow for the Milwaukee Bucks, who are currently in the fifth position in the Eastern Conference
Portis has averaged 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in 46 games, ranking sixth in scoring and second in boards off the bench among NBA players.
He has finished top 3 in voting for the Sixth Man of the Year award over the past two seasons, and he has totaled the second-most points for a reserve in the past three years.
Portis won the NBA championship with Milwaukee in 2021.