Since 2017, professional basketball player D.J. Cooper has been missing from the international court. Now, a report by the European basketball website Eurohoops suggests that part of the reason was a two-year ban by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) that was imposed in 2018.
The reason behind the ban was a failed drug test. In an apparent bid to avoid sending in his own urine for testing, Cooper appears to have used his girlfriend's — which then tested positive for pregnancy.
Faking a drug test cost 28-year-old Cooper dearly as FIBA handed him a two-year suspension for fraud which will expire only in 2020.
According to news reports, Cooper's urine tested positive for the Human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (Hcg), which is only produced by the placenta during pregnancy.
Cooper was poised to join the Bosnian national basketball team, even applying for citizenship from Bosnia and Herzegovina, when he abruptly announced that he would be going on a hiatus for "family-reasons". At the time, he was playing as a guard for the French AS Monaco team.
He announced his departure with the message, “I decided to take a step back from basketball and put an end to my contract with the Roca Team for family reasons. In the current state, my mind and concentration are not basketball and I don’t want to be a cause of disruption for the team.”
According to RTV Slovenija — a Slovenian national public broadcaster which first reported Cooper’s failed test — Cooper was handed a 24-month sentence that expires on June 24, 2020, which means that he was caught in June of 2018.
Cooper was considered in the 2013 NBA draft but did not make it past the first two rounds. That year, he was named the preseason Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year.