Hapoel's Xavier Munford doping sentence announced, to play vs Besiktas / News - Basketnews.com

Munford was suspended for just under a month, clearing him to play in the crucial EuroCup playoff game against Besiktas.

Credit: Marcus Brandt/dpa - Scanpix Credit Marcus Brandt/dpa - Scanpix

Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv's star guard Xavier Munford was suspended indefinitely for a positive doping test. The player's exact duration of the suspension has been announced.

Xavier Munford

MIN:28.63PTS:15.94 (56.18%)REB:2.83As:3.72ST:1.39BL:0.11TO:2.06GM:18ProfileEuroCup2023/2024

Munford tested positive for cannabis in a routine doping test in December, the Israeli Anti-Doping Agency announced at the time. Although such cases have sometimes resulted in lengthy suspensions, the Israeli Basketball Association's court suspended the player for just under a month, Tomer Givati from Israel Hayom reports.

Namely, the guard was suspended from February 19th until March 11th, meaning he will only miss three Israeli Winner League games and will not be sidelined for any EuroCup contests.

As such, Munford will be available for head coach Danny Franco in the upcoming EuroCup playoff game against Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul on Wednesday, March 13th.

Franco has creatively defended his player before, saying people shouldn't be delusional and should accept the fact that most of the players smoke.

"You can adjust the threshold as much as you want. If you think that most of the foreigners in the league don't smoke and some of the Israelis don't either, you are wrong. The fact that he exaggerated and exceeded it is not okay," Franco said.

Munford is one of the leaders of the Israeli squad, averaging 15.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game for 15.8 PIR. He was named Round 8 MVP after scoring 31 points against Joventut Badalona.

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