Tyreke Evans Banned from NBA for Two Years for Drug Violations

On Easter Sunday, Tyreke Evans was playing for the Indiana Pacers in a nationally televised game four of the NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics. Almost three and a half weeks later, Evans was disqualified from the NBA for two years for violating the NBA anti-drug program.

Although, he is able to apply for reinstatement at the end of the ban, it appears that his NBA career as fans know it is over. The former Rookie of the Year in 2010, Evans recently experienced a resurgence in his career in the 2019 NBA playoffs by averaging 15.3 points per game over a four game span.

While the initial report did not give specifics on which drug(s) Evans used, the most important thing is how drugs can affect his ability to play. However, many will ask, how can someone like him take for granted playing for the NBA?

The average person would look at Evans and believe he has everything. He doesn’t struggle financially, has a successful career, and can provide for his family. That sounds like the American Dream that people thirst after.

Evans was fresh off a $12 million contract with the Indiana Pacers. From a fan’s point of view, it makes no sense, how one could contemplate doing what he did that could potentially cost him millions of dollars in endorsements and potential advertisements sponsorships . So many young people aspire to be in the position Evans was in, and would give anything just to get a tryout for the NBA.

The deeper issue is that the use of drugs are a recurrent problem not only in the NBA, but the NFL as well. Most recently, Josh Gordon, former New England Patriots wide receiver, was suspended indefinitely from the NFL for violating their reinstatement policy for drugs. It cost him the Super Bowl Championship in the 2018-2019 season.

Stephen A. Smith, an ESPN analyst, is famously known for telling professional athletes to “stay off the weed”. While we laugh at the jokes he makes, in all actuality, he is telling the truth.

Some professional athletes continue to exhibit this pattern of gaining success in their respective sport, then backtracking to their old habits, which ruins their current professional blessings.

In the case of Tyreke Evans, fans will have to wait two years, hoping he will return to NBA action. Fans can only pray Evans leaves drugs behind and turns his life around.