A few weeks back I wrote that maybe it is time for professional sports to allow, under strict supervision, athletes to use steroids in a bid to recover from injury quicker – after all we do want to see the best play all the time.

That may seem radical or controversial, but is it? Not really, if you consider the fact that the steroids would only be used for rehabilitation purposes and not as a performance enhancer. But what if we did allow steroids as a means to improve performance: is that really such a terrifying idea?

Baseball has just been through a steroid scandal of epic proportions, and it’s still going on, and what we have learnt is that once players find a way to increase performance, regardless of the risks, they will continue with that method; it happens in every sport. Just look at athletics.

There was a study last year which identified four key issues as to why players turn to doping: economic incentive, poor drug testing, the level of competition and low health risk. All four incentives were prevalent in baseball. The most lucrative sporting contracts can be found in baseball – just look at Alex Rodriguez and his $275million deal. Drug testing was also nonexistent – well, punishment for performance enhancing drugs was – and competition was extremely high, and just like in any sport and the players believed there was a low health risk. Just ask Jose Canseco (or read his book).

These four issues can be found in any American sport, but not in a sport like soccer. Get caught cheating in soccer and you face up to two years out; miss a drugs test like Rio Ferdinand did, and you face a eight-month suspension.

The NBA, like MLB, has failed to address the issue of PEDs and even though there are testing policies in place the repercussions are laughable. Orlando Magic’s Rashard Lewis was banned for 10 games at the start of this season after he failed a drugs test. The substance he tested positive for was testosterone and Lewis maintains he took it unwillingly but the fact still remains that his punishment was only a ban for 10 games in an 82-game season.

Unless punishments outweigh the benefits of taking PEDs then sport will be stuck in a cycle where athletes will continue to look for an edge using artificial means.

So why not then allow players to use substances like human growth hormone and various other anabolic steroids to improve their performance? The baseball players did it in the 1990’s and look what happened to the sport – people became interested and excited because players like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire were hitting and crushing home runs like no-one had ever seen. Fans flocked back to the stadiums after the 1992 lockout, enjoying the amazing displays of power the players put on.

Last decade’s NBA MVP winners were: Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James: would it be a surprise if any of them have used some kind of PED in their career? Not really, not after what baseball has gone through.

Imagine if there were steroids which were completely safe, enabling athletes to reach another level of performance, isn’t that what everyone wants to see?  The best, playing at their best. Let’s not forget that athletes have improved dramatically over the past 30 years, not because we have evolved as a species but because the advances in medicine have been so dramatic that players, with the help of nutritionists, are able to take so many different supplements and have such a diet that they are able to train harder and recover quicker than ever before.  Isn’t taking a ton of supplements to help you train harder the same as taking steroids?

I’m not saying that this is a total solution to doping in sports but wouldn’t you like to see LeBron or Kobe playing at another level? People will argue that the fascination with sports is watching someone play the best at their natural level, but with medical advances we are so far from watching players play at their natural levels that you can’t now compare different sporting eras to each other.

Look how high LeBron can jump now, what could he do with the aid of steroids? That is a question you cannot answer but he would probably have a few more MVPs to his name.

1- Kobe Bryant ,30.2 PPG, 4.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds, .317 3pt%, 2 steals

Kobe just keeps hitting game winners at the buzzer and has had three in the last four weeks. He leads the lead in scoring and has led the Lakers to the best record in the league, he is the MVP.

2- LeBron James,  28.7 PPG , 7.8 assists, 7.1 rebounds, .357 3pt%, 1.46 steals

LeBron is a triple double threat every night and after a slow start to the season has figured out how to play with Shaq and is now turning up the heat on Kobe. He scored 23 points, eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds against the troubled Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. To beat Kobe he might need to start making some ridiculous game winning shots.

3- Kevin Durant, 28.4 PPG, 3 assists, 6.9 rebounds, .318 3pt% 1.46 steals

Last year the Oklahoma City Thunder won 23 games, this season they have already won 19 and it has been down to Durant’s MVP like form. In the last nine games he has scored 25 points or more and had a run where he scored 30 or more in seven straight games. Durant deserves to be mentioned in the MVP talks

4- Carmelo Anthony, 30 PPG, 3.3 assists, 6.4 rebounds, .355 3pt%, 1.16 steals

He has missed the last two games with a knee injury and the Nuggets haven’t been in the best of form but Melo is still putting up good numbers. The last three games he played in the Nuggets lost all three but for one week we can forget that.  If he misses anymore time he will slip further down the list.

5- Dirk Nowitzki, 24.9 PPG, 2.5 assists, 8.1 rebounds, .387 3pt%, 1.3 blocks

Since Dirk collided with Houston Rockets forward Carl Landry his average scoring has dropped by almost three points. He has 11 double-doubles on the season and is probably playing better than when he won his MVP award in 2007. He’s scored 20+ in his last three games a sure sign that he is returning to pre-injury form.

6- Steve Nash, 18.9 PPG, 11.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds, .441 3pt%, 0.5 steals

He hasn’t has fewer than 12 assists in the past three games and scored at least 19 in the stretch. He managed to grab three steals against the Rockets in his last game. Nash constantly makes every teammate around him better and continues to hit 9-10 free throws.

7- Dwight Howard, 16.8 PPG, 1.5 assists, 13.3 rebounds, .610 FG%, 2.46 blocks.

In the last three games he has only managed a total of 23 shots making just 12, that’s just 24 points. If you add the points from the three throw line he’s still only averaging 13.3 points in those three games. If you want to be MVP of this league you have to do a bit better.

8- Tim Duncan, 20 PPG, 3 assists, 10.2 rebounds, .549 FG%, 1.8 blocks

His manager said: “With everything he’s done for us, if our record [21-12] was better, you’d hear people talking about him for MVP. We thought those years had passed.” Imagine what the Spurs’ record would be like if they didn’t have Duncan.