sa_butta
03-04-2008, 11:19 AM
Chris Andersen (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3598) reportedly is set to make his return from a NBA drug suspension to join the New Orleans Hornets (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=nor).
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, citing two unnamed sources, reported that NBA commissioner David Stern is expected to reinstate Andersen on Tuesday and that the forward will re-sign with the Hornets this week if he passes a physical.
When he was banished, Andersen was earning $3.5 million in the first year of a four-year, $14 million contract he had signed the previous offseason. If the Hornets want to re-sign him, they would have to tender him a contract for the remainder of the season equal to a prorated portion of his old salary. (If his salary had been above $5 million at the time of his suspension, the maximum the Hornets could have offered him for the rest of the season would have been a prorated portion of $5 million, which was the amount of the midlevel exception at that time.)
Anderson was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy. He first became eligible to apply for reinstatement to the league late last month.
According to the league's collective bargaining agreement, a player can only be disqualified for a fourth positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, or a first positive test for "drugs of abuse."
The drugs on that list are amphetamine and its analogs, which include methamphetamine; cocaine; LSD; opiates, including heroin, codeine and morphine; and PCP.
Andersen had not previously been suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Under the CBA, the first positive test for performance-enhancing drugs results in a 10-game suspension.
Andersen has never publicly said which drug he tested positive for, and league and union officials are prohibited under collective bargaining rules from disclosing that information.
Andersen filed a grievance over his banishment and attended an arbitration hearing in New York the following month. An arbitrator denied his grievance in March 2006.
Under NBA labor agreement rules reviewed by ESPN.com, factors that will be considered by the commissioner's office include the circumstances surrounding Andersen's positive drug test, his actions and conduct since his dismissal, his satisfactory completion of a treatment program, and whether he "is judged to possess the requisite qualities of good character and morality."
Andersen also must provide documentation that he has passed weekly drug tests over the past 12 months, and he could be asked to document whether he has tested alcohol-free over the past six months.
Andersen, 28, averaged 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 32 games in 2006 before his suspension, his fifth season in the NBA. He played three seasons for the Nuggets before joining the Hornets.
Known as "Birdman" for his high-flying dunks, Andersen was a fan favorite among Hornets fans.
He is best known for his performance in the NBA's dunk contest in 2005 when he needed eight tries to finish his first dunk.
Andersen was the first player kicked out of the NBA because of drugs since Stanley Roberts in 1999.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3275986
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, citing two unnamed sources, reported that NBA commissioner David Stern is expected to reinstate Andersen on Tuesday and that the forward will re-sign with the Hornets this week if he passes a physical.
When he was banished, Andersen was earning $3.5 million in the first year of a four-year, $14 million contract he had signed the previous offseason. If the Hornets want to re-sign him, they would have to tender him a contract for the remainder of the season equal to a prorated portion of his old salary. (If his salary had been above $5 million at the time of his suspension, the maximum the Hornets could have offered him for the rest of the season would have been a prorated portion of $5 million, which was the amount of the midlevel exception at that time.)
Anderson was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy. He first became eligible to apply for reinstatement to the league late last month.
According to the league's collective bargaining agreement, a player can only be disqualified for a fourth positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, or a first positive test for "drugs of abuse."
The drugs on that list are amphetamine and its analogs, which include methamphetamine; cocaine; LSD; opiates, including heroin, codeine and morphine; and PCP.
Andersen had not previously been suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Under the CBA, the first positive test for performance-enhancing drugs results in a 10-game suspension.
Andersen has never publicly said which drug he tested positive for, and league and union officials are prohibited under collective bargaining rules from disclosing that information.
Andersen filed a grievance over his banishment and attended an arbitration hearing in New York the following month. An arbitrator denied his grievance in March 2006.
Under NBA labor agreement rules reviewed by ESPN.com, factors that will be considered by the commissioner's office include the circumstances surrounding Andersen's positive drug test, his actions and conduct since his dismissal, his satisfactory completion of a treatment program, and whether he "is judged to possess the requisite qualities of good character and morality."
Andersen also must provide documentation that he has passed weekly drug tests over the past 12 months, and he could be asked to document whether he has tested alcohol-free over the past six months.
Andersen, 28, averaged 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 32 games in 2006 before his suspension, his fifth season in the NBA. He played three seasons for the Nuggets before joining the Hornets.
Known as "Birdman" for his high-flying dunks, Andersen was a fan favorite among Hornets fans.
He is best known for his performance in the NBA's dunk contest in 2005 when he needed eight tries to finish his first dunk.
Andersen was the first player kicked out of the NBA because of drugs since Stanley Roberts in 1999.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3275986