Do we still have to play on Thursday, or do we just call it?

Wow that's huge. Hopefully for his sake, he has a good explanation.

I wonder if this has was why he didn't play 'for personal' reasons last round? I'm guessing so?

PEDs or party drugs?

Do recreational drugs fall under the umbrella of ANADP?

Either way watch the Sixers choke this golden opportunity away.

It had better be for PED's cos the team they are playing are no angels when it comes to the party variety.

Considering his up-and-down play and lack of energy on the court for the most part of this season (comparative to his last stint here) if it turns out to be PEDs he probably should look for a new supplier.

Might be the perfect opportunity for the Kings to get out from under the 2 years $2.4 million remaining on his contract?

Oh my, unbelievable, party or recreational it's not what a captain on the money he’s on should be doing. I’m honestly shocked. If correct it’s probably two year suspension or more. Might have to go to tennis, they seem to allow to play on.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer prima donna

If it is in the public domain I assume it's not just a case of a single "A-Sample) irregular result?

It's hard to say based on the (lack of) wording in the NBL release, but to purely speculate I'd imagine missing the Hawks game was probably precautionary while they awaited something a little more definite.

Sebastian, I'll pay that one.

Dunkman, no way will they ban a poster boy for the NBL for 2 years. That would almost end his NBL career. (And would he be allowed to play NBL1 or overseas during any suspension?)

Is it even the NBL's call?

And yes if you're suspended for doping you should be suspended everywhere.

It's not PEDs. Recreational.

If he is found to be using PEDs, that would mean a ban on ALL professional sports in Australia.

I hope he stays in Sydney though.

Assuming the most likely outcome I don't think the NBL would get a say in the matter. I think he'd find a league somewhere where he could play and earn good money though.

Recreational would make sense given the lack of what I'd call match fitness Cooks seems to have 50% of the time.

My my my

The Bradbury is on.

I'm not certain on all the drug laws in sports but I do know the afl and all their might tried covering it up for the bombers and failed. As I said the tennis seems to have allowed the Australian open winner to play under a drug suspicion while he’s appealing. Most sports if you fail a drug test, you don’t play until your results are confirmed. Shana Jack, if I’ve got names correct missed two years of swimming, clearly thought she was innocent and then returned to the Olympics and won gold but had to sit out two years that was reduced from four. As I said I’m only speculating as I don’t know.

Cocaine up to four years off the Web site. Interesting times. He still could be innocent though.

As he's caught during the season, he’d be facing up to a four year suspension, and that’s all competitions, not just in Australia either.

If I was a Kings fan i'd be livid. What an embarassment

The NBL mentioned Basketball Australia in their press release so presumably that ban would extended to all leagues under the FIBA umbrella? I would imagine if it's just a recreational drug as suggested he could probably get the potential ban reduced on appeal.

Lucky it's not PED's or could be a career ending ban. In tennis Simona Halep had the last years of her career ruined by a suspension she maintains she was innocent of.

To be fair cocaine is absolutely rife in the AFL a lot of them use it but most know how not to get caught. Even some of the coaches get in on it with the players.

I'm not condoning it at all just that it's rife in Australian sport so surprised more in basketball haven't been caught up in it. All though there have been some strong whispers over the years.

"If I was a Kings fan i'd be livid. What an embarassment"

This is the mood. Lots of anger in the pretty large Kings group chat I'm in about the fact that this wasn't made known before tickets went on sale.

nine.com.au reporting.
"Sydney Kings star Xavier Cooks has been dealt a provisional suspension due to a failed performance-enhancing drugs test "

Recreational my contact is saying, waiting on second sample, again and I stress it's down the line information, also said kings new before the last game and he’s done. If all is true, I’m actually feeling sorry for him and his family, we all make mistakes and while he was rated to high, still a good player.
Maybe Doolittle can get nbl second team now as a replacement.

"Recreational would make sense given the lack of what I'd call match fitness Cooks seems to have 50% of the time."

That could also be a reason to use banned recovery drugs to (not an accusation, just a comment).

"To be fair cocaine is absolutely rife in the AFL..."

This could just as easily be shortened to "absolutely rife in Australia", more so than any other country I've spent a lot of time in.

Theres no 'to be fair' about any of this. SO many kids look up to NBL players. PED or recreational, to partake when you know you are subject to frequent testing is just idiotic.

Definetly fair to be angry about this being held silent until after ticket sales went up. Smart, but disrespectful to fans if true.

Would you Kings fans actually no want to go to the game if this suspension was known?

You are supporting the team not the habit.

I don't know that it would have meant less tickets sold, it's more how sneaky it's come across.

I think waiting until the NBL awards night was done likely had more to do with when it was released. Imagine how much it would've tarred the night?

Musashi left the chat

I doubt it's recreational

AFL players get numerous strikes. The AFL has basically admitted they don't have any interest in banning players. Club doctors test players, then players fake injuries while they get their drug habit under control, and this is AFL approved.

It must be performance enhancing based on how its escalated on eve of playoffs

I doubt it's recreational

AFL players get numerous strikes. The AFL has basically admitted they don't have any interest in banning players. Club doctors test players, then players fake injuries while they get their drug habit under control, and this is AFL approved.

It must be performance enhancing based on how its escalated on eve of playoffs

But I guess it does depend on the circumstances. If this was a ASADA/WADA random test or something would this kind of escalation be mandatory even if recreational?

But I guess it does depend on the circumstances. If this was a ASADA/WADA random test or something would this kind of escalation be mandatory even if recreational?

I'm really hoping that this is be a sampling error like we’ve seen in some other cases but I haven’t seen that claim come out of the Sydney camp yet. Not a good look for the NBL if one if its highest profile players is banned.

There's a certain member of the ownership group who acts like the wolf of wall street. Test them next.

Ok he probably has made a big mistake. He has to live with the outfall from it

He has kids looking up to him which is bad for the game if he took drugs.

Put him in Cairns or similar lowest salary and daily drug tests. One failed that is it gone.

Athletes have children looking up to them so need to hit hard on drugs

I've said it before, kings have gone backwards since Smith sold the majority of the shares, he had his eye on the game.

Playing for Brian would turn anyone to drugs.
But it does sound PED, could be anything. Hasn't looked like he's bulked up, and I remember him subbing himself out with assistant coach and Brian not noticing in the timeout he wasn't sitting down. So not really enhancing strength or endurance. There's so much crap in all the supplements these days, but everyone is warned they need to know what's going on their body, no excuse not knowing. Obviously held off because of awards night.
Will have to wait to hear a statement from the man himself, either pleading his innocence and awaiting confirmation, else it might be a PR disaster. Normally there's a very quick release about being innocent, so will wait for the next few days. If he's guilty then he's gone for a couple of years.
As for the Adelaide game, I always say they lose the ones they should win and win the ones they should lose. Any news about Adams eye gouging, could be wrong but just a fine with early plea or a game suspension, not sure if it actually meant fine and 1 game for early plea. Be crazy to fight it if only a fine, but pretty piss poor to not get an automatic game for that behaviour. Might actually help Brian not being able to be creative and he can play Oliver and Toohey extended minutes. If only they had a chance to bring in another import.

Adams is playing. Was a 1 game suspension or $1500 fine only (no suspension) for early plea.

Was guilty of eye gouging but said low impact. You don't need high impact to permanently blind someone so sets a dangerous precedent.

Musashi sponsorship the kiss of death for NBL stars?

If Sydney do lose it gives Brian the best excuse ever as to why he failed. Hopefully they let Oliver and Harrell play and not call soft fouls.
Disgraceful Adams decision, I suppose high contact is actually sticking the fingers in the sockets.

Now we know why Adams wasn't suspended.

Interesting but plausible conspiracy theory, PW. I guess Sydney must be allowed to look competitive, given the importance of their market.

When players this very seasom got 0 games for punching what did you expect?

Eye gouging and no games. It's unimaginable.

Dunkman - Ili gets punched in the face and no game suspension for Harrell. Unimaginable.
In fact you were calling for Ili to be suspended.

FelixVonSnort

BA clamping this down hard as there are others potentially implicated that could have far bigger and wider reaching impacts.

We have seen a politician in SA fall recently and the same situation may occur here.

Surely the Cleveland Steamer himself is not involved

QA, I'd find it more believable that BA would clamp down hard on negative publicity than that they’d actually come down hard on players in order to stop the shit. So far, it’s been more like the Monty Python fish-slapping dance.

ANY contact with the head should cop something, and any deliberate contact with the head should START with automatic suspensions. If a team or player wants to lawyer up, which I think is what BA is scared of, then let it be about the length of the suspension rather than whether suspension is warranted at all.

NBL is being consistent

Punches in the head, eye gouging = Zero games

Throwing a ref to the ground = 5 games

If this was AFL, the first 2 would get multiple weeks, the ref throw would get a season

NBL is a minor league, and gives less weight on fair punishments and more weight on personalities and keeping stars happy

Glad you have your approval Perthworld

Are the nbl aligned with usada//wada ?

Yes

Glad you have your approval Perthworld

Corey Webster was banned from playing in the NBL after he tested positive for Cannabis.

4 weeks to 4 years, it'll get down to interpretation of in game time. How much influence will the nbl put into defending there media man. Certainly not a good look no matter how they go about it. Interesting times.

Will kings want to keep him as well, you would think it's a contract breach, is another two years at 1.2 million a year still make him a viable option on what he has shown this season. Cooks might want out OS where he won’t have the stigma following him as he would be just another player.
What’s the views ?

I reckon Kings will get the best lawyers and BA or whoever will cave in and make it a minimal suspension.

If Kings do lose, however, then if he's suspended for anything longer than a few months I reckon they’ll give him the flick.

Word is it was coke.

How many others in the team are also doing coke and were lucky enough t not get caught.

Too much money and too much time on his hands.

Needs to be suspended and taught a lesson.

His father would or should be disgusted with hime.

He is a gentlemen and will be so embarassed.

Yes I felt for his dad and mum, both very normal people.

I feel for his parents partner znd child.

He made a very bad decision and he has to live with it.

As I said before lot lower pay with daily tests and support at a lower expectation club.

Give him a chance bug monitor closely.

We can all nake bad decisions

Sinner just got three months, a total slap on the wrist and it was for steroid that was in a cream that he used as an excuse. Tennis needs Sinner so basically nothing, won't even miss a slam.
Slap on wrist will be Cooks punishment. He’s a big name, if it been a no body it’s years. As like Sinner Cooks is a required commodity of the nbl. Again it wasn’t even a performance drug, just recreational, so probably by world standards it’s fair result.

Any more news on this, what's the next date of the second test, any ideas ? Was it cocaine or something else ?

Complete radio silence, outside of the fact that it was cocaine - I think that part is at least semi-official.

One reason I asked is that I got told it wasn't the good old coke. Time will tell us all. Hopefully he hasn’t been to stupid or the whole thing is a mistake.

The SMH said it was coke.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/nbl-star-xavier-cooks-tested-positive-to-cocaine-20250213-p5lbw4.html

It will come down to explaining (I'm assuming he pleads guilty) when the substance came into his system. Having had experience (on the good guys side), can assume the sample will be tested to find the levels. All people metabolise things differently, but it should be able to give a ballpark figure of when it was ingested.
Then the games begin. Does he come completely clean, eg has a habit or is an occasional user. Or did a mate slip it into his drink.
Depending on a lot of things, I can see it being months not years, maybe since it was virtually the end of the season they might make it long enough to stretch into a portion of next season, not sure where he goes in our offseason typically, but that would be lengthy enough. And since he's a star, I can see Sydney definitely keeping him, albeit with him doing extra community engagement to make amends. The suspension needs to be enough of a deterrent but not crushing, especially since it was more than likely recreational than performance enhancing.
It does set a double standard, if he was a mid level to DP player, could be career ending. If Sydney do rip up the contract, if the Buford rumours are correct, then Brisbane would be logical destination.
But can't see it being a quick process, Peter Bol took 6 months but that was an entirely different situation.
Drugs do ruin lives, but in this case he's a user not a dealer (hopefully), so smack on the wrist, remind players not to do lines during the season and move on. Could well cost him a million dollars at the end of the day, a lot more than most would be penalised. And will follow him around especially in the short term, maybe even leading to not making boomers in years to come just because of the stigma.
And if some people think he's the only one that's done it or doing it are dreaming.

It's kind of hard not to think about doing a line or two when every game you're playing in is 'cracking'.

I would be shocked if he was the only one, but it's still a bad look all around and anyone that gets caught deserves it. Given his lethargic play and the fact that he only ever looked to be about 80% tbh I'd be surprised if it's a one off or just an indicator that he's partying way too hard - maybe not necessarily coke every weekend, but he's obviously not taking basketball as seriously as his pre-NBA stint and it showed even before the suspension.

Interesting thing for me, more so than the suspension length, will be if the Kings try to get free of the contract.

I was going to post "that the only "lines" on this forum ought to be the ones we had to run for missing free-throws", but thought it in-appropriate to make it a joke. Then I re-read PW's wise-"crack" again and got it. Duh! So thought mine was ok, too!

Nice.

Xavier Cooks has been handed a one-month suspension after testing positive to cocaine.
Cooks is set to face further punishment from the Sydney Kings (Per Newscorp)
#NBL25

Does this stay internal or does wada get a say. Seems very light penalty and yes I know everyone around here believes most are on it which I don't believe is true.

So a suspension that won't actually affect him at all given it's the off-season?

He has almost served the suspension since it began in mid-February.

So it was classed as out of competition, in competition I thought was up to 4 years with minimum of 2. Experts on here could provide more information.

WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR TESTING POSITIVE TO COCAINE?

An athlete faces a ban of up to 4 years if a Substance of Abuse is in their system In-Competition.

As of 1 January 2021, if an athlete tests positive to a 'Substance of Abuse', then the Athlete’s period of Ineligibility may be reduced to three months if the Athlete is able to prove that the substance was ingested or Used Out-of-Competition and was unrelated to sport performance.

The ban could be further reduced to one month if the athlete completes a Substance of Abuse treatment plan that is approved by the responsible Anti-Doping Organisation. The treatment plan adopted by Sport Integrity Australia includes the athlete being seen by a medical practitioner and the athlete completing a specific education program approved by Sport Integrity Australia. This treatment plan will be at the cost of the athlete.

https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/what-we-do/anti-doping/prohibited-substances-and-methods/cocaine-use-sport

Thanks, but excuse my naivety but how was it out of competition? The season was still running.

"In competition" means "on game day."

If this is the first time caught, ok, first strike.

If a second one happens, I'd like to see a solid suspension of 4-6 weeks of the season and then after the season just part ways as you don’t really want that around your club.

I’m not a fan of first strike and you’re out for year(s). I think that’s over the top and probably on par with the toxic polarity of the world at the moment.

I'm not convinced things turn out any differently if Cooks played the elimination game, but given the timing of it I'm still interested to see what sort of punishment the Kings dish out. The whole situation flies in the face of the family atmosphere the Kings have been fostering, and professional athletes should be held to a higher standard than your average gronk.