The NBA’s drug policy states that a player can be randomly tested up to twice during the offseason, and David Lee was kind enough to show us what that looks like.
No, this isn’t a trip into the bathroom stall.
But Lee posted a photo showing what happens when a league-sent representative shows up to your offseason home to conduct one of these mandatory tests.
Interestingly enough, the league doesn’t test for everything during the offseason.
From Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ:
Testing falls into two categories: reasonable cause and random. Reasonable cause testing occurs when the league or players association provides the program’s independent expert with information about a player’s use, possession or distribution of prohibited substances, and the expert believes that reasonable cause exists to order testing. If reasonable cause is found to exist, the player can be tested without notice up to four times in a six week period. Players can be subjected to random testing up to four times during a season and up to two times during an offseason (offseason testing is conducted for SPEDs and diuretics only). League-wide, the program will not conduct more than 1,525 tests during a season or more than 600 tests during an offseason.
This has nothing to do with Lee, but considering how relatively lax the testing policies are, it makes a suspension like the one J.R. Smith received last summer all the more difficult to understand.