Lakers Center Deandre Ayton Briefly Detained in Bahamas Over Suspected Marijuana
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Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton was briefly taken into custody at Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau on Tuesday after Bahamian authorities suspected he was carrying a “very small amount of marijuana,” according to his attorney.
Lawyer Devard Francis said Ayton, 27, was released quickly when investigators determined the cannabis was in another person’s bag and not in the player’s luggage.
“The investigators saw that the actual very small amount of marijuana wasn’t in Deandre’s bag, but they still went through their investigations and he was released expeditiously,” Francis said in a statement to Reuters.
The NBA removed marijuana from its banned-substance list in the league’s most recent collective bargaining agreement, and players are no longer tested for it. The drug, however, remains illegal in the Bahamas.
Ayton, a native of the Bahamas competing in his first season with the Lakers, is expected to be available when Los Angeles returns from the All-Star break on Friday to host the LA Clippers.
Source: ESPN
