The NBA has long had HGH on its list of banned substances but has never tested for it. Doing so means collecting players’ blood, which the union has never allowed, and there was little agreement about the test’s reliability.

But those concerns have eroded lately, sources say, with a frenzy of progress in talks between the league and union. A decisive factor: Major League Baseball and its respected union have agreed to blood tests for HGH, weakening the basketball union’s claims that the test was unreliable or that blood testing is too invasive.

Terms of the 2011 NBA collective bargaining agreement created a committee to hash out the particulars of HGH testing. Progress had been slow, until recently.

There has also been pressure from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which chided the NBA for “gaps” in its testing program last fall, as well as the U.S. Congress. In late 2012, Rep. Elijah Cummings called delaying HGH testing over concerns about the test “incredibly ridiculous.”

In a statement emailed to ESPN.com, Cummings elaborated: “According to the expert witnesses who testified at our hearing, there is consensus among the scientific community that HGH testing is safe and reliable. Since the NBA agreed last year to start HGH testing — and since professional basketball players already compete in the Olympics, where they are subject to HGH testing — there is no reason to delay HGH testing for the NBA itself. My hope is that all our professional sports leagues implement HGH testing right away to set an example for millions of young athletes across the country who look up to them.”

With the two sides agreeing in principle, over the past few months, to test players’ blood for HGH, talks have focused more on the conditions under which blood specimens could be collected.

At the moment, NBA players are subject to six urine tests a year, two of which occur in the offseason. It is unknown how many blood tests will be added to the schedule, if that blood will be examined for anything beyond HGH, and if the blood tests will be in addition to, or instead of, urine tests.

A further complication had been that the union itself is in disarray, with longtime executive director Billy Hunter suspended for misconduct and subject to federal investigation. Staff attorney Ron Klempner is directing the union on an interim basis. Sources insist HGH testing can proceed regardless, and the union can and will implement HGH tests before resolving its leadership issues.

Those with knowledge of the talks say it is a foregone conclusion that HGH tests are coming as soon as next season.

NBA commissioner David Stern predicted as much at the All-Star Game in Houston in February, saying “we have a comprehensive drug testing program that has a long list, probably a hundred or so, I’m not even sure the number, of drugs that are prohibited, including HGH, subject to an agreement of the validity of an appropriate testing protocol. And we expect that to happen, we really do, before the start of next season.”

Until recently, none of the major north American sports — MLB, the National Football League, the National Hockey League and the NBA — made blood tests a major part of their anti-doping programs. This was in no small part in response to privacy concerns raised by those sports’ unions. Athletes are not unionized in international sports like track and field and cycling, where blood testing is common, and even extends to comprehensive measures like biological passports, which have been lauded by anti-doping experts.

Baseball recently led a breakthrough among major leagues by announcing an agreement to collect and analyze players’ blood, not just for HGH but for other substances, too, and for setting baselines for testosterone.

Stern acknowledged last month that basketball lagged behind baseball in that regard.

“There will always be some kind of leap frogging there, as there was in 1983, which we were the first league to have an anti-drug program and dealt with a variety of things. So it’s always subject to be improved,” he said. “But together with our players’ association, which I think has taken a leadership role here, I’m sure we will continue to improve it.”

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“This is our union and we have taken it back,” National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher said.

Fisher said it was a day of change for the union, one that had seemed inevitable since a review of the union last month was critical of Hunter’s leadership and urged players to consider whether they wanted to keep him.

They didn’t.

“We want to make it clear that we are here to serve only the best interests of the players,” Fisher said. “No threats, no lies, no distractions will stop us from serving our memberships.”

In brief remarks, Fisher said a new executive committee was elected, and he will remain as president. The Spurs’ Matt Bonner is vice president, Miami’s James Jones is secretary-treasurer and the Nets’ Jerry Stackhouse is first vice president. The Clippers’ Chris Paul and Willie Green, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Denver’s Andre Iguodala, and the Hornets’ Roger Mason, Jr. are vice presidents.

Hunter said he had “yet to receive any notification” of his firing.

“If accurate, it is indicative of the extremely troubling process followed by the NBPA during the past few weeks,” he said in a statement. “During the days and weeks ahead, my legal team and I will begin carefully reviewing the actions taken and statements made against me in the meeting room in my absence. I look forward to gathering the evidence showing how certain individuals made sure the outcome was preordained.”

Hunter had led the union since 1996, guiding the players through three collective bargaining agreements and helping bring their average salaries to more than $5 million, highest in team sports. But Fisher pushed for the review after a falling out between the two leaders, and though it found Hunter wasn’t guilty of any criminal activity involving union funds, it cited him for a number of conflicts of interests and poor choices that led the players to remove him.

Commissioner David Stern was aware of the union’s actions but had little comment.

“We await notification from the union as to who we should be dealing with because it has been a principle of faith with us that we will deal with whomever the union tells us to deal with,” Stern said.

Released in January, the review conducted by the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP criticized Hunter for hiring family members and friends. It said he knew his 2010 contract extension wasn’t properly ratified by union rules, and raised questions about everything from travel expenses to the amount he spent on gifts.

Players acted quickly, putting Hunter on a leave of absence Feb. 1. He hoped to be invited to Saturday’s annual meeting, which included about 35 players, superstar LeBron James among them.

Hunter’s family did, and that was another central issue of the report. He had since fired his daughter and daughter-in-law, and cut ties with a financial institution that employed his son. He also instituted an anti-nepotism policy at the NBPA.

Fisher, Paul, Bonner, Mason and Jones were holdovers from the previous executive committee. Stackhouse, who along with James was vocal during the meeting, joins Iguodala, Curry and Green among the newcomers.

Fisher and Hunter clashed during the 2011 lockout, and their fractured relationship divided the union. Hunter originally persuaded the executive committee to vote to request Fisher’s resignation last year. Fisher did not resign and instead pushed for the outside review, which lasted more than eight months and cost the union more than $4 million.

The law firm reviewed NBPA documents and emails, and interviewed more than three dozen witnesses. It found that Hunter spent more than $100,000 on gifts for executive committee members — including a watch worth more than $20,000 for Fisher before their falling out — and accepted a payout of $1.3 million for unused vacation time when records made it unclear how his time off was kept.

Fisher remains president even though he isn’t on an NBA roster, having asked the Dallas Mavericks for his release after a brief stint earlier this season. He gave no update on what would happen to the executive director position. Union attorney Ron Klempner was appointed to the position on an interim basis when Hunter was placed on leave.

“The current interim regime in control of the NBPA has set a terrible precedent for the union,” Hunter said. “It violates every tenet of fairness upon which the union was founded. Now that this has occurred, I will continue to examine all of my options, including whether the fairness that was absent from the NBPA process might be available in a different forum.

“In addition, given the legitimate legal and governance questions surrounding the eligibility of the members who voted and the adherence, or lack thereof, to the constitution and bylaws, I do not consider today’s vote the end, only a different beginning.”

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