The NBA announced on Friday they've suspended Milwaukee Bucks' center Larry Sanders for 10 games without pay for violating the league's Anti-Drug Program. This is the second such suspension for Sanders in his career after being suspended for five games without pay during April of the 2013-14 season. From the NBA:
The NBA announced today that Larry Sanders of the Milwaukee Bucks has been suspended without pay for a minimum of ten games for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program. Sanders’ suspension will begin on Monday, Jan. 19, when the Bucks host the Toronto Raptors, and will continue until he is in full compliance with his treatment program.
During his five-game suspension last season, Sanders spoke out in favor of medical marijuana, citing it as a useful drug for treatment and saying the current laws against marijuana would eventually go away. His suspension is consistent with the third violation of the marijuana program in the NBA and NBPA's Anti-Drug Program agreement.
The first violation is an automatic and required admittance into the marijuana program. The second violation comes with a $25,000 fine and being required to enter the marijuana program unless they are subjected to in-patient or aftercare treatment from that program. Third violation is a five-game suspension without pay and any subsequent violation of the marijuana program is five games longer than the previous suspension.
There have been rumors of Sanders no longer wanting to play basketball and his play has declined dramatically since breaking out in 2012-13 as one of the league's premiere rim protectors out there. He's averaging just 7.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 21.7 minutes. He hasn't played a game since December 23.
