NBA Commissioner Taking Cautious Approach After Suspending Marijuana Testing For 2020-21 Season

The NBA will stop testing players for marijuana, carrying over something that they did in the Orland bubble.

Aware of the impact that the pandemic has already had on the league and the players, it will instead focus on random testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

"Due to the unusual circumstances in conjunction with the pandemic, we have agreed with the NBPA to suspend random testing for marijuana for the 2020-21 season and focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse," NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a report from Forbes.

However, it remains to be seen if the NBA will bring back random testing for marijuana in the future. League commissioner Adam Silver mentioned before that they were looking into the possible adjustments to cannabis use with more states legalizing it for recreational use.

"I think that, clearly to the extent it has medicinal qualities, those are things that we should be looking at. Where it's in terms of pain relief, of course. And that's something that's being studied, not just by us. The NFL recently announced they're studying that issue, as well. And we should look at it," Silver said via CBS Sports.

Though that makes sense, Silver is taking a careful approach. He is aware that a lot of young people look up to NBA stars and doing away with random testing might send a wrong message to them.

"At the end of the day, I think we all agree that, whether or not marijuana is a legal substance, just like with alcohol, you still have to teach young people how to use a substance like that appropriately and responsibly and so it doesn't overwhelm your life. So, it's a complicated issue," he explained.