Mark Cuban has been pushing for the NBA to consider allowing HGH use.
Not content to leave the issue for the league to study – a route that surely would have slowly led nowhere – Cuban has taken to funding the medical research.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com:Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is putting his money where his mouth on studying the potential benefits of human growth hormone use for athletes recovering from injuries.
Cuban said Thursday he has made a significant financial commitment to fund a potential university study on the issue.Cuban didn’t give many details, including the school or a timeline, because the study still needs government approval.
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It will be years before the NBA ever allows HGH in any circumstances. It could be years until Cuban’s study even gets off the ground.
And shifting league-wide opinion could be an even larger mountain to climb.
Our societal lines on performance-enhancers are arbitrary, but also deep-seated. Proposing changes for only injuries is a good way to begin the discussion, as injury recovery – again, for arbitrary reasons – is viewed differently by many. If that becomes accepted, maybe HGH would become passable as a common training method.
HGH use must clear many obstacles before the NBA approves it, but this Cuban-backed research is a small step in that direction.
