Current Indiana Pacers shooting guard, Tyreke Evans has been dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program, the league officially announced on Friday.
Under the league’s program, Evans will be eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years, meaning that the earliest that he will potentially be back out on an NBA court will be during the 2021-22 season.
Statement on Tyreke Evans: https://t.co/0n2WI4zN3G pic.twitter.com/F7d2tFLrD8
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 17, 2019
No more information about Evans’s dismissal was publicly disclosed. Evans has never been previously suspended from the league for any drug-related offenses, so his punishment only fits with the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement if he tested positive for what the league defines as “drug of abuse.”
The former Memphis Tigers star entered the league in 2009 as the Sacramento Kings’ fourth overall selection. He spent his first four seasons in Sacramento, which included his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2010. Evans has also played for the New Orleans Pelicans, Kings again for 14 games in 2016-17, Memphis Grizzlies and, most recently, the Indiana Pacers.
He averaged 19.4 points per game with the Grizzlies in 2017-18, his best numbers since his rookie season in 2010. For his career, Evans boasts averages of 15.7 points, 4.8 assist and 4.6 steals per game.
Evans is the NBA’s 13th disqualification since 1986. Chris “Birdman” Anderson, Stanley Roberts, Roy Tarpley (twice), Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis Lloyd, Michael Ray Richardson, Richard Dumas, Chris Washburn, Duane Washington, John Drew, and O.J. Mayo were the others.
Evans would have been a free agent this summer. With so many teams having a ton of cap space, Evans surely has cost himself millions from this latest development.
