Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, has been suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA-NBPA's anti-drug policy with a positive test for a diuretic, the league announced Thursday night.
The National Basketball Players Association plans to file arbitration papers immediately on behalf of Ayton, believing that there will be a case to have the penalty reduced or rescinded based on a collective bargaining agreement provision of "unintentional ingestion," league sources told ESPN.
Diuretics are banned because they can mask performance-enhancing drug use. Sources with knowledge of Ayton's testing told ESPN that follow-up testing on him showed no traces of any other banned substances.
The NBPA has the ability to expedite two cases a year with the league, and sources say it's likely the union will use one of them on Ayton to try to get him back on the court as soon possible.
Sounds like there's a decent chance it'll be overturned/reduced, but it seems a harsh penalty given the circumstances (and the follow-up test that confirms it wasn't being used to mask performance-enhancing drugs). Rules are rules I guess, and it goes to show how careful players have to be.