Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images
Bol Bol was apparently too dominant for the NBA’s liking.
Only one official scrimmage into his NBA career, the legend of Bol Bol has already grown taller than the rookie’s massive 7-foot-2 frame.
On Wednesday, as the sports world lovingly welcomed professional basketball back into its arms (from six feet away, of course), the Denver Nuggets‘ rookie saw his first bit of meaningful action.
He hadn’t suited up in NBA Summer League. He hadn’t played a single regular-season game for a Nuggets. But finally healthy, and with a shorthanded Denver squad needing able bodies on the court, the 20-year-old stretch-big was the story of the day.
He swatted shots. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. He ran the floor and finished over minuscule defenders with ease. When all was said and done, Bol had tallied 16 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks, finishing with a game-high plus-18 in his 32 minutes of action.
So, of course, the NBA had him scheduled for a “random” drug test afterward.
Okay, so obviously the air quotes are just a joke, but it is nothing short of hilarious that after rehabbing from a foot injury early in his career, spending most of his first pro season in the G League, finally getting his chance to play in an officially sanctioned NBA scrimmage and then dominating that game … he’s had to submit to a drug test.
Almost as though league officials were worries Bol Bol was too dominant.
Surely a mere mortal could not have moved up and down the court with such grace at that size? Surely a man who was not benefitting from performance-enhancing drugs could have thrived in his first NBA contest like this? Surely he’s not about to take over the league without the aid of illegal substances??
We don’t want to read into the results of some unofficial game when these guys haven’t played basketball in four months, nor do we want to make any assumptions about the NBA’s protocol for random drug testing. But this coincidence is just too funny to pass up.