Steroids in the NBA...how prevalent were they in the early 90s-early 10s?

[Pennebaker]

Basically in the 1980s and 1990s NBA players could take anything with almost no fear of getting caught and they wouldn't get tested unless there was "reasonable suspicion" and there was no testing for microdosing and for other types of PED programs.

In the 1980s the league was really just testing for cocaine.

The NBA didn't start taking PEDs seriously really until about 2005-ish. The Lance Armstrong news really affected the league as well and that was a story from about 2010 to 2012.

[NO-KG-AI]

I have less of an issue with recovery enhancement than performance enhancement. These guys bodies are tested to the limit, as seen with the huge number of ligament issues. Performance enhancement... you do like to see the playing field equal.

The two go hand in hand. Being able to recover faster and stronger is the biggest reason for the increase in performance. Being able to go harder and still get up the next day and do it again is invaluable.

[LakersLegacy]

The NBA doesn’t care about steroids at all which help one jump higher, run faster and have the recovery time needed to excel in the NBA

The NBA turned a blind eye and perhaps buried the Heatles steroid use after ESPN reported 1 of the Heat was involved with BALCO

Where MLB goes after steroids, the NBA turns a blind eye.

It’s actually against the rules for a player to be tested for steroids after the 3rd test which may occur as early as November. So after that 3rd test there are no drug rules what so ever. So load up on steroids before the play-offs. There are absolutely no consequences

[LakersLegacy]

we would already be seeing the health outcomes from the 2000s players if there was some widespread PED usage. I'm sure it happens, but i dont think its that serious.

Steroid use is completely healthy! Once you're 40 your doctor will gladly give you them if you're willing to pay enough for it.

Lakers will be Champions again in 2025 then when the average age of our roster is 40!!!

[MrGoat]

If we're talking specifically steroids, probably less than the NFL and MLB, not as advantageous for most player types. The added muscle mass can cause a lack of speed, think of David Boston in the NFL. However, there are other types of PEDs

[dhsilv2]

If we're talking specifically steroids, probably less than the NFL and MLB, not as advantageous for most player types. The added muscle mass can cause a lack of speed, think of David Boston in the NFL. However, there are other types of PEDs

This is the most famous steroid user of all time. This idea that you get too much muscle is seriously sad to see still being perpetuated! If you're a man, steroids will make you feel better and be more athletic in basically every single possible way!

[Lockdown504090]

If we're talking specifically steroids, probably less than the NFL and MLB, not as advantageous for most player types. The added muscle mass can cause a lack of speed, think of David Boston in the NFL. However, there are other types of PEDs

This is the most famous steroid user of all time. This idea that you get too much muscle is seriously sad to see still being perpetuated! If you're a man, steroids will make you feel better and be more athletic in basically every single possible way!

the difference is the length of time that nba players would be on it. Cycles are what make it safe-ish. an nba player cant cycle without people noticing if they play for a playoff team they would probably have to go into an off period during the season which would make them extremely vulnerable to injury. if dwight for example was on roids, we would see him come into camp swole as a mf and then not be able to bully guys the same by all star. theres other stuff he could have been on, although unlikely because he would have used it in LA to recover from his injuries.

[og15]

Steroids as in muscle building, meh, but if you mean PED's in general, then most likely, but trying to estimate the prevalence is just a whole guessing game.

[dhsilv2]

If we're talking specifically steroids, probably less than the NFL and MLB, not as advantageous for most player types. The added muscle mass can cause a lack of speed, think of David Boston in the NFL. However, there are other types of PEDs

This is the most famous steroid user of all time. This idea that you get too much muscle is seriously sad to see still being perpetuated! If you're a man, steroids will make you feel better and be more athletic in basically every single possible way!

the difference is the length of time that nba players would be on it. Cycles are what make it safe-ish. an nba player cant cycle without people noticing if they play for a playoff team they would probably have to go into an off period during the season which would make them extremely vulnerable to injury. if dwight for example was on roids, we would see him come into camp swole as a mf and then not be able to bully guys the same by all star. theres other stuff he could have been on, although unlikely because he would have used it in LA to recover from his injuries.

You don't have to cycle on and off. You aren't going to lose massive muscle coming off cycle either. These aren't body builders. The goal isn't to get "jacked as hell".

I'd also note, that even 1 cycle can make a long term improvement for these guys. Cycles after that might not do much as those gains can go away, but a first cycle and help people break through and those gains can be kept long term.

[Michael Jackson]

This feels like an attempt to diminish a prior era

I have MJ as my GOAT and don't think he used steroids, if that's what you're suggesting.

Not saying MJ used PED’s but he was a take every type of advantage guy and if others were doing it I just can’t see him passing up a chance to “best” them. He don’t know what Grover was feeding MJ, Pippen and Harper during those morning workouts lol.

I do think D Rose nailed it when he stupidly said more like 7 out of 10. Maybe I’m jaded but I have seen PED use since high school. I see it daily at the gym (just to look better on Friday nights) and all levels of athletics. I have friends who are Dr’s who run HRT offices. I just think when it comes to millions of dollars and generational money it is a tougher thing to just say no.

One of my friends growing up was in the MLB (as was his father and brother). He got caught for using HGH. Why did he do it? It was simple he was not recovering from his injury and didn’t want to lose his spot in the big leagues. There are just a lot of marginal choices like that, that athletes have to make a decision on. If they feel like Rose did that 70% of your colleagues are doing it, makes it harder to say no imho.

[TinmanZBoy]

I remembered when LeBron came out of high school with superior physicality… a friend of mine who was a high school basketball coach said to me that he must have used steroids… i think Kids on competitive high school level have already on something as long as it can give them an edge to make it pro… it was a no brainer for them, the pros are so much appealing than the cons

So you’d be so naive to think the NBA does not have a PED issue… it is just not a problem for them, the league does not care, very loose testing regimen… they benefit from the better performance… so in another sense, he likes it

[JonFromVA]

Is caffeine a performance enhancing drug? If PED's are so prevalent in the NBA, then why didn't LeBron hook-up Matthew Dellevedova so he could more effectively keep his energy up and recover in the 2015 finals and avoid ending up in the hospital with dehydration?

It's not naive to withhold judgement when there's a lack of evidence.

MLB and the NFL both have unique attributes that likely contributed to the spread of PED usage. The NBA does too, but it's more subtle and if it's not clear to me whether it would even be successful - and that's whether a parent would ever procure and give HGH to a child to try to manufacture an NBA player because tall people have a higher chance of making it in basketball.

[tripa]

Washington bullets power forward Don McLean tested positive for steroids in 2000. To that, Charles Barkley said, "I've seen Don McLean naked, and he doesn't take steroids."

Most people who use steroids look like crap. That's why they started using them often in the first place.

[-Luke-]

I think that in all leagues where a lot of money is at stake, doping takes place across the board.

In cycling, at some point it became too obvious and it was then tested semi-seriously. More tests and better tests (not just urine but also blood) naturally mean more positive tests. The result was that sponsors and fans jumped ship and the media looked very closely at cycling, while they turned a blind eye on European football (soccer) leagues, NBA or NFL. Nobody wants the same consequences as in cycling, so, leagues, teams, fans and media don't look too closely.

I am not saying that the results of doping would be the same as in an endurance sport like cycling. But I think people who say "doping wouldn't do anything/not much good in sport X. It only comes down to talent" (you hear that often from European football/soccer fans) are completely naive. Some people in this thread have already mentioned regeneration. Soccer has become faster and faster over the years. An NBA team that goes to the Finals plays more than 100 games in about 8 months. Of course doping would help tremendously. If you combine that with all the money involved and the lousy testing... Why should any team be clean?

[Michael Jackson]

What really blows my mind sometimes is how people still to this day don't grasp just how normal steroid use was in the major leagues or how abused pain pills were to go a step further. Teams were openly asking players which "package" you want for the off season. This stuff was completely condoned and done through the teams themselves. If anyone thinks the nba hasn't been doing this for decades you're down right insane. 35 year old fat dudes who used to look good and play high school ball are taking steroids to feel young again and you think multimillionaire athletes trying to compete at the highest level aren't ALL using something?

The only thing worse than these types of questions are the terrible stigmas that people have on these things. Things, in general, when dosed correctly, and with proper testing, are perfectly safe and can improve people's quality of life!

Or just in general understanding what PED’s do. So the dosages that Ronnie Coleman took are not close to what a professional athlete takes. What Ronnie took would cause health problems for anyone, the same way waking up and drinking a handle of vodka is going to cause health problems for anyone.

Professional athletes are getting their blood work done and the levels are right. They might be taking something like SARMS. They can also afford really good HGH. Maybe it is some low dose test. Not likely a cocktail of winny, dbol, tren, primo, test chased with some Anavar like Schwarzenegger took at one point.

I ran cycles thinking I was going to compete at one point and now I go to the doctor and take some low dose test just to feel a tad more youthful. Low dose test is absolutely fine for someone at my age as it is. It really just shaves off a few years on my energy and recovery levels so I can go out and play with my kid and not be crippled the next day lol. “Steroids” is the most mis understood word too. It is PED’s people are talking about and rarely steroids. Also low dose anything isn’t going to make anyone massively huge (ie even if Dwight took something, those are his genetics to begin with it is just helping him work harder).

[dhsilv2]

This feels like an attempt to diminish a prior era

I have MJ as my GOAT and don't think he used steroids, if that's what you're suggesting.

Not saying MJ used PED’s but he was a take every type of advantage guy and if others were doing it I just can’t see him passing up a chance to “best” them. He don’t know what Grover was feeding MJ, Pippen and Harper during those morning workouts lol.

I do think D Rose nailed it when he stupidly said more like 7 out of 10. Maybe I’m jaded but I have seen PED use since high school. I see it daily at the gym (just to look better on Friday nights) and all levels of athletics. I have friends who are Dr’s who run HRT offices. I just think when it comes to millions of dollars and generational money it is a tougher thing to just say no.

One of my friends growing up was in the MLB (as was his father and brother). He got caught for using HGH. Why did he do it? It was simple he was not recovering from his injury and didn’t want to lose his spot in the big leagues. There are just a lot of marginal choices like that, that athletes have to make a decision on. If they feel like Rose did that 70% of your colleagues are doing it, makes it harder to say no imho.

I know a few ex MLB players...it's down right staggering how open and public the use was. And still to this day the media has never come CLOSE to telling that story, honestly. This stuff was NOT behind closed doors. It was right out in the open.

[dhsilv2]

Washington bullets power forward Don McLean tested positive for steroids in 2000. To that, Charles Barkley said, "I've seen Don McLean naked, and he doesn't take steroids."

Most people who use steroids look like crap. That's why they started using them often in the first place.

I swear....some people have absolutely no idea how many guys are on gear...

Trust me dude, most people on gear look like CRAP! You'd never in a 1,000 years realize they were using these drugs.

[Michael Jackson]

I got banned from pre-announced NBA drug testing

Ayton clearly got made an example of because he was just too stupid to listen to the warnings. The NBA has to throw a sacrificial lamb here and there to show they do police it but they surely don't want to bust their players. The 70's and 80's drug era still sticks on this sport to some and they don't want a MLB like PED era.

[dhsilv2]

What really blows my mind sometimes is how people still to this day don't grasp just how normal steroid use was in the major leagues or how abused pain pills were to go a step further. Teams were openly asking players which "package" you want for the off season. This stuff was completely condoned and done through the teams themselves. If anyone thinks the nba hasn't been doing this for decades you're down right insane. 35 year old fat dudes who used to look good and play high school ball are taking steroids to feel young again and you think multimillionaire athletes trying to compete at the highest level aren't ALL using something?

The only thing worse than these types of questions are the terrible stigmas that people have on these things. Things, in general, when dosed correctly, and with proper testing, are perfectly safe and can improve people's quality of life!

Or just in general understanding what PED’s do. So the dosages that Ronnie Coleman took are not close to what a professional athlete takes. What Ronnie took would cause health problems for anyone, the same way waking up and drinking a handle of vodka is going to cause health problems for anyone.

Professional athletes are getting their blood work done and the levels are right. They might be taking something like SARMS. They can also afford really good HGH. Maybe it is some low dose test. Not likely a cocktail of winny, dbol, tren, primo, test chased with some Anavar like Schwarzenegger took at one point.

I ran cycles thinking I was going to compete at one point and now I go to the doctor and take some low dose test just to feel a tad more youthful. Low dose test is absolutely fine for someone at my age as it is. It really just shaves off a few years on my energy and recovery levels so I can go out and play with my kid and not be crippled the next day lol. “Steroids” is the most mis understood word too. It is PED’s people are talking about and rarely steroids. Also low dose anything isn’t going to make anyone massively huge (ie even if Dwight took something, those are his genetics to begin with it is just helping him work harder).

Exactly!

And we haven't even touched on things like EPO and other methods to increase endurance. Even a guy in their 20's just taking a very low dose of test can, in many cases get a tremendous boost. Others...they aren't getting anything. Good friend of mine, now in his 40's, used steroids back in his 20's when he trained at West Side. He didn't feel it really did a whole lot for him. He now in his 40's is using them, and he can't scream more loudly about how it makes him feel 15 years younger and had just overall improved his quality of life (he's not exactly taking a small dose) and of course he HAS put on a good 30 pounds of muscle. Meanwhile I've got a buddy who's a police officer who at 40 decided to get TRT, and along with a strict diet and training lost a good 30 pounds in his gut and added maybe 5-10 pounds of muscle mass. Feels the best he has in his life.

And then I've got another half dozen friends who have either TRT or just take small doses of test on their own....who don't look like they workout at all. But they still swear by it just makes them feel better chasing around their kids or doing yard work.

In my 20's I knew hundreds of guys in the gym who used steroids. Some were competative lifters, body builders, college/high school athletes....or just dudes who wanted to look good. Some weighed 120 pounds soaking wet and barely gained 5 pounds and others put on 30 in 6 months. The results vary as wildly as our bodies do already naturally.

[PlatinumState]

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