The Bulls' Eddy Curry averaged a career-high 16.1 points a game last season before concerns over his heart cut his season short. Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
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Do the Bulls have the right to demand Eddy Curry take a DNA test?

That's the question going around the NBA these days as a dispute rages between the Chicago team and its young 6-foot-11 free-agent center.

"It's unprecedented," says agent Henry Thomas, speaking for many in the NBA -- and perhaps all of pro sports -- who are watching this latest episode in the Curry saga closely. "The ramifications could go well beyond this particular case."

Curry, 22, missed the final month of the 2004-05 regular season and playoffs after experiencing a heart arrhythmia before a March 30 game at Charlotte. He was checked out by a group of Bulls team doctors, but tests ultimately were inconclusive.

One of the doctors, Minneapolis cardiologist Barry Maron, has since suggested Curry undergo a DNA test to see if he is genetically disposed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal condition. Bulls GM John Paxson says if Curry doesn't agree to submit to the test, the team might not allow him to suit up.

Curry, who has until Oct. 1 to decide whether to accept a one-year, $5.1 million qualifying offer from the Bulls, has refused. His representatives point out that their client has been cleared to play by his own doctor, a leading cardiologist in Los Angeles, who has said a DNA test is unnecessary in this case. They also claim such tests are unreliable, and that they can't rule out any condition definitively.

More important for pro sports -- and perhaps society at large -- Curry's reps argue that submitting to such a test could set a dangerous precedent. "If employers could give employees DNA tests, then they could find out if there's a propensity for illnesses like cancer, heart disease or alcoholism," Alan Milstein, a lawyer who is helping represent Curry, told the Chicago Tribune. "They will make personnel decisions based on DNA testing."

Maron, though, disputes the claim that there are privacy issues involved, noting that this is a specialized DNA test targeted only at Curry's potential condition and not for other possible ailments.

Can the Bulls really force Curry to take the test? Probably not. The NBA players association has said it is opposed to such testing, and will take the matter to arbitration if necessary. The Bulls claim language in the collective bargaining agreement requires players to submit to all "requested examinations and tests" at the annual physical exam given at the start of training camp. But it's hard to believe an arbiter would rule that DNA tests fall under that umbrella.