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Photoshop joke leads to random drug test for NBA star

Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso isn’t jacked.

Sure, he’s in great shape. He’s a professional athlete, after all. But “jacked” isn’t generally the term used to describe the lanky, balding 6-foot-5 point guard.

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Last month, the Lakers posted several shirtless photos of Caruso working out in the team facility to social media. Naturally, It didn’t take long for several users to photoshop the pictures to make Caruso look much, much bigger than he actually is.

However, not everyone picked up on the joke — including, it appears, the NBA league office.

Caruso was hit with a “random” offseason drug test this week, just one week after the fake pictures went viral.

Coincidence? Maybe. The NBA sends out its drug tests randomly all throughout the year. It’s entirely possible that it was just Caruso’s turn.

Or — and this explanation is way more entertaining — someone in the league office saw the fake pictures and fell for it, which prompted the drug test to try and bust the 25-year-old for taking performance enhancing drugs.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso, pictured, was randomly drug tested after an image of him with oversized muscles added in Photoshop went viral on social media.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso was notified of a random drug test, days after a joke image of him with comically oversized muscles was circulated on social media. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Either way, it doesn’t sound like Caruso is worried about passing that test.

Ex-Laker takes shot at Los Angeles

Former Laker Josh Hart is preparing for his fresh start with the New Orleans Pelicans, after he was traded for Anthony Davis alongside Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram.

The shooting wing took a moment to throw some subtle shade on his podcast, LightHarted, when Ball joined him as a guest.

After Ball described his brief time visiting his brothers when they were playing in Lithuania as ‘very depressing’, Hart couldn’t help but interject.

‘Sounds like LA,” he quipped.

“And I’m not talking about the city. I was going to say the Lakers organisation.”

While the young gun later took to Twitter to walk back his comments somewhat, he did reveal the reason why he remained at odds with his former team.

Hart said he remained hurt that he’d learned of his trade to New Orleans via social media, rather than by a team official contacting him.

“I’m truly grateful to the Lakers organization and I do understand the NBA is a business,” he wrote.

“But as a player you just want the courtesy of a phone call saying I got traded and not finding out on Twitter.”