An American basketball player plying his trade in Europe has been banned from the game after a drug test concluded that he was pregnant.

Donell ‘DJ’ Cooper, had been playing in Europe since missing out on the NBA draft and had played in Greece and France.

Cooper left AS Monaco in 2018 for “family reasons” and those reasons have been brought into the spotlight by the revelation that he failed a drug test.

Looking to join the Bosnian national team as a naturalised player, Cooper needed to take a drug test as part of the formalities.

Officials found that the sample he provided contained human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy.

A recently released report shows the urine actually belonged to his girlfriend, who was likely unaware she was pregnant.

The international basketball federation (FIBA) suspended Cooper for fraud and he’s not eligible to return to the game until June 2020.

“I decided to take a step back from basketball and put an end to my contract with the Roca Team for family reasons,” Cooper wrote in a statement released by Monaco last year.

“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 ... this team that I love, this team that represents the extraordinary Principality of Monaco, that brought me a unique life experience. This team represents a professional organization led by committed, passionate and vigorous people.

I wish my teammates and coaches the maximum success.”

This article was originally published by the NZ Herald and reproduced with permission