Oklahoma City Thunder young forward Mitch McGary has not had a great start to his NBA career. Since leaving the University of Michigan as a highly regarded prospect, the big man has been through a few battles. He’s went up against injuries, a lack of playing time and recently, an issue with drugs.
Since the Thunder season came to an end, McGary has been suspended multipe times by the NBA for different violations of the NBA’s Anti-Drug Policy and his current suspension total stands at 15 games. His issues were related to Marjiuana.
Now that the Thunder are in their preseason campaign and McGary’s position on the roster is not promised, the big man has pledged to turn his life around and make an impact for his third season in the NBA.
Following from Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript.
The two suspensions to be served consecutively at the beginning of the season aren’t the first times McGary has suffered drug-related bans. He tested positive for marijuana when he was a sophomore at Michigan and would have been suspended as a junior if he had not entered the NBA Draft following two years of school.
“I apologized to myself, foremost, my family, my parents, but also the organization, just the community of Oklahoma City,” he said. “I do think that I let them down just because of the actions that I have made. But I don’t think this defines me as who I am. You guys know I’m a happy-go-lucky guy. And nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes mistakes.”
McGary consistently channeled one point throughout his media session: That he believes a lifestyle change is on the horizon.
“I’ve turned a new leaf,” he said. “I’m not afraid to talk about it. Yes, I messed up. Yes, I’m taking responsibility. I’m sober.”
“A lot of people talk about Chris Andersen, and how he had a drug problem early on, but they don’t talk about that,” he said. “They talk about Chris Anderson as an NBA champion, and this is what I want to do. I want to turn my life around.”
As Katz also points out, the Thunder roster currently stands at 16 guaranteed contracts. McGary could be the odd man out of the Thunder bench rotation considering they acquired veteran Ersan Ilyasova and rookie Domantas Sabonis this summer. At this point, McGary might be lucky to make the team but he might have a chance to be a part of another team’s roster.
