NBA Suspends Suns' Deandre Ayton For 25 Games For Drug Violation

PHOENIX — Deandre Ayton, former Tucson U of A Wildcat and current Phoenix Suns basketball player, was disciplined Thursday night by the NBA with a 25-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Ayton’s recent drug testing indicated he had diuretics or “water pills” in his system, which are banned according to NBA policy.

Diuretics help the body eliminate water and sodium, and in some cases, can cover up the presence of performance-enhancing drugs. For most people though, diuretics treat high blood pressure.

Ayton was apologetic and said in a statement that the diuretics were an inadvertent mistake. “I want to apologize to my family, the entire Suns organization, my teammates, partners, our fans and the Phoenix community. This was an unintentional mistake and unfortunately I put something in my body that I was completely unaware of.”

Meanwhile, the National Basketball Players Asssociation will appeal the suspension because subsequent testing showed no banned substances in Ayton’s system, among other reasons, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Read the full story at the Arizona Daily Star.