Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic took steroids and admitted it, making him quite different from baseball and football players who routinely deny their use of performance-enhancing drugs. Still, it got him a 20-game suspension by the NBA.
Turkoglu took full responsibility for the positive test and apologized to the Magic organization, fans and teammates. He said he took medication from a trainer in Turkey this past summer to help him recover from a shoulder injury and mistakenly neglected to check it against the NBA’s list of banned substances.
“As a player this is the worst situation that you want to be in,” Turkoglu said. “I’m just sorry to put the organization in this situation. … I should have double-checked and researched and shouldn’t be in this situation.”
He is the eighth player suspended for performance-enhancing drugs under the NBA’s drug testing policy. He is the second Magic player to be suspended under the policy in four years. Former Magic forward Rashard Lewis was suspended 10 games in 2009 after testing positive for an elevated testosterone level.
Turkoglu said he was tested by the league in December and learned of the suspension Tuesday night. General manager Rob Hennigan said Turkoglu informed the team of the positive test a week ago.
“It’s been really a nightmare,” Turkoglu said. “It wasn’t a really good year for me. Now I’m facing this. As a player, you face a lot of injuries. It just comes and goes. But this kind of situation, you don’t want to put yourself in. This is the worst one I’m dealing with now.”
Turkoglu sat out the Magic’s past three games for what the team said were flu-like symptoms and a sore back. Hennigan said those ailments were legitimate and are unrelated to the positive test.
It is the latest in a string of bad news for Turkoglu during the past year.
He missed 10 games at the end of last year’s regular season for a fractured bone above his eye and then missed 28 straight games at the start of this season after breaking a bone in his hand. He’s appeared in just 11 games in 2012-13 with only one start.
Turkoglu is in the third year of his second stint with the Magic. He is averaging 2.9 points, 2.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds, all down from his career numbers over the previous 12 seasons.
