LeBron James faces steroid allegations: Breakdown of his back injury controversy

LeBron James is linked to past steroid allegations after Jeff Teague's podcast claims.

LeBron James is one player who will be remembered in glory as long as his name remains tied to his sport. That doesn’t mean, however, that the Future Hall of Fame star hasn’t had his pitfalls, the most significant of which happened back in 2014-15 when some reports claimed that the player had missed two weeks of play not due to the publicly declared back injury but as a result of using steroids.

LeBron James faced steroid allegations during the 2014-15 season when he missed games. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) (AP)

Although the claims were never completely proven to be true, they caused quite a stir when former Hawks guard Jeff Teague recently brought them up in a podcast appearance.

James' back injury in 2014

Following four seasons with the Miami Heat, James missed about two weeks of games during the 2014-15 season, his first playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers. At the time, it was claimed that he was missing in action due to a disc issue. He went on to miss 13 games that season, a career-high record for him at the time.

Although he made a steady run to the Finals that year after returning on January 13, it was ESPN’s Brian Windhorst’s claims of James not quite being himself for the rest of the season due to his back that first spotlighted speculation. Many claimed that James had been using steroids at that point, including Teague most recently.

Teague’s claims against James

During an appearance on his ‘Club 520 Podcast’, Teague laid all speculation to rest. "He was on steroids, bro. He had to sit out, he was on steroids,” he said. "They started testing for HGH ... and he had to sit out. He said his back was hurting. He sat out for like three weeks and came back skinny. I was in the league, I remember."

As per the official website of the Mayo Clinic, “It appears that human growth hormone (HGH) can boost muscle mass and lower the amount of body fat in healthy older adults. But the gain in muscle doesn't lead to gains in strength. It isn't clear if human growth hormone provides other benefits to healthy adults.”

There are several gaps in Teague’s story and timeline, the most important of which is that the league did not officially start testing players for HGH until the season after these allegations surfaced. In his 2015-16 season, James played 76 of 82 games and won a championship with the Cavaliers, as reported by Yahoo Sports.

Teague later waived off his comments as a joke and reaffirmed this stance during his most recent appearance on Thursday (July 24).

(By Stuti Gupta)