3 Players Indicted in Phoenix Pass Drug Tests

Mandatory drug tests conducted the day after three Phoenix Suns’ basketball players were indicted on drug-related charges found no traces of illegal drugs in any of the players’ systems, the National Basketball Assn. said Monday.

James Edwards, Grant Gondrezick and Jay Humphries underwent urinalysis tests on Friday, the day after they, former Suns’ players Garfield Heard and Mike Bratz and five other people were indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury in Phoenix. Charges against the five ranged from possession to trafficking in cocaine and other illegal drugs.

“We’re pleased that the results were negative in each case,” said Tom Ambrose, a spokesman for the Suns. “We’re pleased for the players. We’re pleased for the organization. The results were expected, however, because all of the players demanded to be tested.”

The three players were tested under an anti-drug agreement between the NBA and the players’ association, Ambrose said. He said the players may be tested three more times within the next six weeks.

“I hope they do that, and I hope they do it at random,” said William Friedl, an attorney for Humphries. “Before we took the test, we gave them (the NBA) a letter saying we’d like to be tested as many times as possible and that we’d like for the tests to be conducted at random.”

Under the NBA’s anti-drug agreement, a player who fails a mandatory drug test is banned from the NBA for a minimum of two years. A player who is convicted of a drug charge or pleads guilty also faces the minimum two-year suspension.

Sylvia Lopez, a spokeswoman for Maricopa County Atty. Tom Collins, said Monday that two other people were indicted Thursday, but their names were not made public because they had not been arrested.

Lopez said she didn’t know if the two were Suns’ players.

Larry Fleisher, general counsel for the NBA Players Assn., told the Phoenix Gazette that it was his “understanding that no more ball players are involved.”

Fleisher indicated that he had been told that pending indictments involve “businessmen . . . yuppies.”

Edwards’ agent, Reggie Turner, said in Phoenix last week that he had been told by former Suns’ player Alvin Scott that Scott, All-Star guard Walter Davis, rookie center William Bedford and former player Johnny High all were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony before the grand jury.

Collins declined to comment, saying his office is “ethically bound not to discuss details of the case and we will stand by it.”

Scott also declined comment, while High said authorities “didn’t promise me nothing.”

Efforts to reach Turner for comment on the drug-test results were not immediately successful.