© Greg M. Cooper | 2019 Apr 17
Former Kings and current Pacers guard Tyreke Evans has been disqualified from the NBA for violating the terms of the NBA/National Basketball Players Association anti-drug program, the league announced Friday.
According to the NBA’s guidelines, a player can be dismissed and disqualified from the league for testing positive for a drug of abuse, or if he is convicted of or pleads guilty to the use, possession or distribution of a drug of abuse. He is eligible to be reinstated in two years.
The league’s list of Drugs of Abuse is as follows: “amphetamine and its analogs, benzodiazepines, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, LSD, opiates, and PCP.”
“We take these matters seriously and will reach out to Tyreke to offer our support,” the team said in a statement.
Evans, 29, was the fourth overall pick by the Kings in 2009, and won the Rookie of the Year award in his first season, averaging 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. Evans hasn’t averaged that many points per game in any season since then, and has spent most of the past three seasons as a sixth man for four different teams.
Evans averaged 10.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 20.3 minutes per game for Indiana last season.
According to ESPN, other players who have been banned under the policy are O.J. Mayo, Chris Andersen, Roy Tarpley, Richard Dumas, Micheal Ray Richardson, Lewis Lloyd, Duane Washington and Stanley Roberts, many of whom were reinstated.