NBA players are not stepping up to testify

WASHINGTON – None of five NBA players invited to testify to Congress about steroids has agreed to appear, and the House Government Reform Committee has concerns about the league’s drug-testing policy, panel spokesman Dave Marin said.

Marin said panel chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., ranking Democrat Henry Waxman and Sen. John McCain will introduce a bill this week governing steroid testing in U.S. sports.

NBA commissioner David Stern and players’ union director Billy Hunter have agreed to appear Thursday at the panel’s third hearing on steroids, after Major League Baseball in March and the NFL last month.

“The chairman … is a little bit disappointed that we don’t have a player confirmed for Thursday,” said Marin.