D. J. Cooper

Cooper grew up in the Chicago area and spent his first three years of high school at Hales Franciscan High School. By the time he was a senior, and after transferring to Seton Academy, Cooper began to get national recognition. He was named a McDonald's All-America nominee and ranked as the 30th best player overall by ESPN.com for the class of 2009. Cooper averaged approximately 16 points and seven assists per game and led Seton Academy to the school's first-ever state championship in any sport when they won Illinois' Class 2A state title. He ultimately chose to play for Ohio University, a mid-major Division I school, and head coach John Groce because Cooper "wanted to feel like [he] was someone's main priority", which Groce made him feel. He then signed with Ohio and enrolled in the fall of 2009. ==College career==

Cooper made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2009–10. He averaged 13.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He finished 11th in scoring and 17th in rebounding in the MAC, while his steals and assists ranked him 5th and 7th nationally. He said of Cooper, can score, he can dish, does a great job off the pick and roll and always seems to make the right decision. He can absolutely pass it, but more important than that, he can absolutely play. He's among the best point guards in the country." Six days later he was named to the All-MAC First Team for the third consecutive year. Cooper finished his collegiate career with 934 assists and 328 steals, which at the time of his graduation ranked him 12th and 18th all-time, respectively, in Division I history. Statistics ==Professional career==

2013–15 After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Cooper signed his first professional contract in August 2013, with the Greek Basket League's PAOK for the 2013–14 season. On August 18, 2014, he signed with Enisey Krasnoyarsk of Russia for the 2014–15 season. On May 12, 2015, he signed with the Greek club Panathinaikos for the rest of the 2014–15 Greek Basket League season. On August 1, 2015, he signed with Krasny Oktyabr of Russia. On November 21, 2015, he left the Russian club and signed a two-year contract with AEK Athens of Greece. He left AEK after appearing in seven games. On January 25, 2016, he signed with AS Monaco Basket for the rest of the season. 2016–18 On August 8, 2016, Cooper signed with Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez of France. Cooper was the assists leader in the 2016–17 Pro A season, and after the regular season he was named the competition's Most Valuable Player. On July 8, 2017, Cooper signed a two-year deal with French club BCM Gravelines. On October 16, 2017, he parted ways with Gravelines after appearing in four games. Three days later, he returned to AS Monaco. After averaging 6.9 points and 7.2 assists per game in the 2017–18 season, Cooper announced he was leaving Monaco on September 7, 2018. 2020–present On June 10, 2020, Cooper signed with Élan Chalon of the LNB Pro A in France. He parted ways with the team on October 8, after appearing in three games and averaging 9.6 points and 6.6 assists per game. On November 3, Cooper signed with the Dorados de Chihuahua of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional in Mexico; he played two games for them. On December 14, 2020, he signed with Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski in Poland, but he left them on December 23. On February 25, 2021, he signed with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine. On July 5, 2022, he signed with Ironi Ness Ziona of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. On November 7, 2024, he signed with Śląsk Wrocław of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). On February 18, 2025, he signed with Hapoel Holon of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Suspension In 2019, FIBA issued Cooper a two-year suspension for using another person's urine in an attempt to cheat a doping test. The test initially indicated an elevated level of human chorionic gonadotropin, which is most commonly produced by the placenta during pregnancy. That urine, according to the report, belonged to his girlfriend. ==National team career==

Cooper applied for Bosnian citizenship in 2014. He was named a member of the senior men's Bosnian national basketball team, and was going to play with Bosnia at the EuroBasket 2015 qualification tournament. However, he first left Bosnia for a family emergency. After his return, he suffered an injury during Bosnia's training camp, and he was unable to play at the qualification tournament. Ultimately, his Bosnian citizenship was never processed, according to FIBA. ==Career statistics==

Domestic leagues Regular season Playoffs ==See also==