Does anybody remember when O.J. Mayo was on the cover of countless magazines back in the day? He was barely in high school when he was coverboy for a myriad of basketball print publications. He took that hype to the University of Southern California where he played for one season, taken third overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, then endured some NCAA allegations afterwards.
Mayo got off to a nice start in his NBA career which is only natural since he was so heralded since birth. In his rookie campaign, he averaged 18.5ppg, 3.2apg and 3.8rpg while playing 38 minutes a night. In his sophomore year, he posted 17.5ppg, 3.0apg and 3.7rpg numbers, while again playing 38 minutes per contest. Those are very solid numbers for the first two seasons of an NBA career.
But this year hasn’t gone as smoothly for Mayo. He has been coming off the bench this year and all of his numbers are down to the tune of 12.2ppg, 1.9apg and 2.7rpg. Since he’s no longer in the starting lineup, he’s only tallying 29 minutes per game. In fact, all of his numbers have dipped each year he’s been in the league.
Aside from being asked to come off the bench this year, his bad season just got worse. Mayo was just suspended 10 games by the NBA, without pay, for violating the league and union’s anti-drug program by testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). DHEA is a legal, mild steroid precursor. That means it isn’t a steroid in a bottle, but it converts once it’s ingested. Although it’s banned by most sports leagues (but not MLB…go figure), you can actually get it over the counter and anyone can purchase it.
In a statement released once he learned of this news, Mayo stated:
It was an honest mistake, but I take full responsibility for my actions. I apologize to my fans, teammates and the Grizzlies organization for regrettably not doing the necessary research about what supplements I can put in my body.
Then just this weekend Mayo released a public statement saying he believes an “energy drink” he bought at a gas station contained the substance that led to his 10-game suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy.
“I didn’t know it had any bad substances in it, and it caused a 10-game suspension,” Mayo said. “It’s not like I went to a GNC and got some Muscle Armor or ordered some supplement off the Internet or anything. It was just a local gas station that kind of got me hemmed up.”
I believe Mayo. I don’t think he was unaware of what exactly it was because basketball is a finesse game and isn’t the kind of sport where a steroid will give a competitive edge. But regardless, his season just went from bad to worse.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
