The Loop
The remainder of the NBA season is going to be the most stoned sporting event ever
While there are still many hurdles to clear, it seems as though the NBA is set to make its return on Friday, July 31 at the Walt Disney World Resort facilities in Orlando, Fla. Rejoice, rejoice and be glad, sports fans.
Twenty-two teams will return to action, 13 from the Western Conference and nine from the Eastern, and all 22 will play eight more “regular” season games before the playoffs begin. Those final eight games will determine the playoff seeding, and there will also be a potential play-in tournament for the eight seed in each conference. For that to occur, the nine seed must be within four games of the eight seed at the end of the regular season. For the nine seed to advance, it would need to beat the eight seed twice in a row. The eight seed would only need to win once in this play-in scenario.
But the point of this post was not to explain the NBA’s return-to-play plan, it was to point out this tweet from NBA insider Shams Charania:
The NBA suspended tests for recreational drugs when the season stopped due to coronavirus, and as Charania reports it will stay that way for the rest of the year. That means the remainder of the NBA season and the playoffs will be the most stoned sporting event of all time. No debate.
Sorry JR, but I think you’re the guy everybody thinks of when it comes to playing in a NBA game while high as a kite. Hell, there’s a YouTube video called “JR Smith weed-night vs Spurs,” which features Smith throwing up countless airballs and not making a single shot in a blowout loss:
The beauty of JR, though, is that this could have been him completely sober, and that’s why he was off. It’s hard to tell the difference from him being high and not high when he would chuck up all those shots anyway.
As time passes, and more and more people seem to be coming around on the legalization of marijuana, many former NBA players have flat out said they got high before games on a regular basis. And that was when they knew they could get tested. These guys all know they won’t be getting tested in Orlando. Couple that with the fact that they’ll probably be stuck inside the facilities at all times and a lot of ... umm ... "chilling" will be going on. I just hope there is a Taco Bell nearby and it's open past midnight. JR is on his way to Orlando as we speak and he’ll be willing to play for any team that wants him.