{"id":843735,"date":"2026-08-04T23:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843735\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T23:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:26:11","slug":"nbl-2026-why-xavier-cooks-received-a-one-month-ban-as-montrezl-harrell-questions-nbl-suspension-news-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843735\/","title":{"rendered":"NBL 2026: Why Xavier Cooks received a one-month ban as Montrezl Harrell questions NBL suspension, news, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Adelaide 36ers import Montrezl Harrell has publicly questioned why Sydney Kings star Xavier Cooks received a one-month suspension<\/a> for his second anti-doping violation, with the former NBA forward taking to social media after the Kings confirmed the sanction.<\/p>\n

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Cooks served the suspension between June 4 and July 4 after a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected in an in-competition doping control sample collected following the Kings\u2019 91-89 Championship Series Game 2 loss to the Adelaide 36ers on March 27.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The suspension marked Cooks\u2019 second anti-doping violation in just over a year, after he also served a one-month ban in 2025 when an in-competition test detected cocaine.<\/a><\/p>\n

Reacting to the news, Harrell questioned how Cooks had received another one-month suspension while he is currently serving a worldwide two-year ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let me get this straight NBL, not trying throw no one under the bus but! Facts are facts, his first offense was COCAINE like he gets a month out season an a class to take. He smoked weed in season this time he gets a month! Follow me so far!\u201d Harrell wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cdead ass help me understand it @Adelaide36er @NBL really help me! Buddy has done coke and weed and caught both times and you give him a total of 2 months an he miss no playing no where! All while you guys have insisted that I serve a world wide ban from every league under WADA,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Montrezl Harrell takes to Instagram to comment on the recent Xavier Cooks suspension. (Via Montrezl Harrell Instagram)Source: Instagram<\/p>\n

It is a reaction many fans have shared.<\/p>\n

Looking purely at the suspensions, it is easy to wonder how one player receives another month on the sidelines while another is ruled out for two years.<\/p>\n

The reality, though, is that the two cases are not judged the same way under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kings confirmed Cooks\u2019 case was handled by Basketball Australia and Sport Integrity Australia under the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy, although neither organisation has publicly explained exactly which provisions were applied when determining the sanction.<\/p>\n

What is publicly available is the WADA Code itself.<\/p>\n

Under those rules, cannabis and cocaine are both classified as \u201cSubstances of Abuse\u201d. Rather than being treated as performance-enhancing drugs, they fall into a separate category for recreational substances.<\/p>\n

If an athlete can establish the substance was taken outside competition and was unrelated to improving sporting performance, the standard three-month sanction can be reduced to one month after completing an approved Substance of Abuse treatment program.<\/p>\n

Xavier Cooks has recorded two drug violations, but not for performance enhancers.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

That may sound confusing because the Kings said Cooks returned the result from \u201can in-competition doping control test\u201d.<\/p>\n

But an in-competition test simply describes when the sample was collected. It does not automatically mean the substance was taken during the competition period.<\/p>\n

THC can remain in a person\u2019s system long after it has been consumed, meaning an athlete can test positive after a game despite using cannabis before the WADA-defined in-competition period began.<\/p>\n

If investigators are satisfied that is what occurred, the athlete may still qualify for the reduced sanction. Based on the rules that have been made public, Cooks\u2019 one-month suspension is consistent with that outcome.<\/p>\n

Another question naturally follows.<\/p>\n

If this was Cooks\u2019 second anti-doping violation, shouldn\u2019t the penalty have increased? Normally, yes.<\/p>\n

However, the WADA Code contains an exception for cases that fall under the Substance of Abuse provisions.<\/p>\n

If both of Cooks\u2019 violations were dealt with under those rules, the 2025 cocaine case would not automatically count as a previous offence when calculating the sanction for the THC violation.<\/p>\n

NBL Daily: Boomers GOAT set to make shock career call over ex-teammate\u2019s $57m crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

That would explain why the latest suspension remained at one month rather than escalating into a longer ban.<\/p>\n

Harrell\u2019s case followed an entirely different path. His suspension was not for returning a positive drug test.<\/p>\n

Montrezl Harrell has reacted to the seeming discrepancy.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Instead, it related to an alleged failure to complete an out-of-competition doping control after being unable to provide the required urine sample.<\/p>\n

Under the WADA Code<\/a>, failing to submit to sample collection is treated as a separate anti-doping rule violation with a much harsher starting penalty.<\/p>\n

While that sanction can be reduced if the violation is found to be unintentional, it still carries significantly heavier consequences than a Substance of Abuse case.<\/p>\n

Harrell\u2019s suspension was backdated to January 2025, meaning he has already served much of the ban<\/a> and is due to become eligible again in January 2027.<\/p>\n

So while Harrell\u2019s frustration is understandable from his perspective, his case and Cooks\u2019 were assessed under entirely different sections of the WADA Code.<\/p>\n

Xavier Cooks\u2019 apology for his first failed drug test. Picture: Instagram.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

For Cooks, however, the legal distinctions do little to change the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

The three-time NBL champion publicly apologised after his first suspension last year, saying he had let down his teammates, club and supporters.<\/p>\n

Just over a year later, he once again finds himself explaining another anti-doping violation, even if the circumstances behind this one are far more complicated than previously thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Adelaide 36ers import Montrezl Harrell has publicly questioned why Sydney Kings star Xavier Cooks received a one-month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-843735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}