Sydney Kings forward Xavier Cooks was provisionally suspended for a positive test to cocaine, which carries a maximum four-year penalty.
The National Basketball League was rocked on the eve of the finals by the revelation that one of its biggest stars had been stood down due to a potential anti-doping violation, with the Kings preparing for Thursday night’s sudden-death game against the Adelaide 36ers at Qudos Bank Arena without the 203cm star.
Xavier Cooks warms up before a match between the Kings and Adelaide 36ers in Sydney last month.Credit: Getty Images
Statements by the Kings and Basketball Australia did not specify the substance that had been detected in Cooks’ sample, only that the 29-year-old Boomers representative had been advised by Sport Integrity Australia of an adverse analytical finding.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, Cooks recorded a positive reading for a metabolite of cocaine and was hoping to have the matter dealt with urgently as an issue of recreational use, out of competition. The ban can be reduced to as little as a month if proven that it was taken for recreational use and not for performance-enhancing purposes.
A suspension of up to four years can be imposed for using cocaine in competition, a window that begins at 11.59pm the day before a match and extends until any sample is collected after the game.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s substances of abuse provisions, introduced five years ago, allow for an athlete’s period of ineligibility to be slashed to three months if they can successfully argue it was ingested before the day of competition and was not for improving performance. That sanction can be further whittled down to a month if the athlete agrees to a treatment plan endorsed by Sport Integrity Australia, an outcome reached after Penrith Panthers player Brent Naden tested positive for cocaine after the 2020 NRL grand final.
The Kings were made aware of the issue last Friday and Cooks was withdrawn from that night’s game against the Illawarra Hawks, an absence the club attributed to personal leave.
Xavier Cooks in action for Australia against Japan at the 2023 World Cup.Credit: AP
Sources say the Cooks camp may seek an emergency hearing in a bid to have his interim suspension lifted, pressing the point that the lab finding was unrelated to improving on-court performance and should be considered out of competition.
There is research that suggests cocaine metabolites can be picked up in samples of urine up to six days after the drug is consumed.
Notifications of adverse analytical findings are sent to athletes to inform them of a positive A sample. They are then given the option of having a B sample analysed. A positive B sample triggers Sport Integrity Australia to issue an anti-doping rule violation notice.
The urgency to have Cooks’ failed test addressed as a recreational, out-of-competition matter is to avoid it hanging over his head during a lengthy process that could ultimately result in only a one-month ban.
Athletes who are temporarily barred from sport are also entitled to request an expedited final hearing.
Australian baseball co-captain Tim Atherton was another athlete to ultimately be handed a one-month ban under substances of abuse provisions after having a metabolite of cocaine detected by an in-competition doping control test following an Australian Baseball League match in 2023.
The Kings, who held a closed training session on Wednesday before Thursday night’s game, said the club was unable to comment beyond a statement issued 24 hours earlier.
“Xavier Cooks has been provisionally suspended due to an adverse analytical finding and a potential violation of the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy,” the Kings said.
Basketball Australia released its own statement.
“A mandatory provisional suspension (effective immediately) has been imposed on Sydney Kings player Xavier Cooks following notification to him by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) of an adverse analytical finding (AAF) and a potential violation of the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy (ANADP),” it said.
“The matter is now progressing in accordance with the ANADP. No further comment will be made by the athlete, NBL, Sydney or BA and we request the privacy of all parties involved be respected.”
Cooks played for Australia at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and made 10 appearances for the Washington Wizards in the NBA in 2022 and 2023.
