Sydney Kings veteran Xavier Cooks had just finished a post-training shoot around when he aimed his final shot towards the Adelaide 36ers.
The question was about the reception the Kings’ marquee star, Kendric Davis, will receive in Adelaide during the upcoming NBL championship series, in which the Kings and the 36ers will duke it out for the title. The five-game series begins at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night.
Kendric Davis (right) and Xavier Cooks (left) at Sydney Kings training at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“There’s been a lot of attention on Kendric for the last couple of rounds – he’s the best player in this league,” Cooks said.
If you know your NBL, however, you’ll know Davis is not the best player in the league. Or not officially, anyway, and that distinction is a major source of aggravation for the Kings’ US import, his teammates and the Sydney fans.
Despite averaging more points (25.7 a game) and rebounds in a sizzling season, Davis missed out on winning the NBL’s most valuable player award to Adelaide’s Bryce Cotton for the second consecutive year. The final vote was 96-94 and the Texan didn’t hide his annoyance about Cotton getting another Andrew Gaze Trophy – his sixth overall.
Davis slammed the MVP voting system as unfair, political and a “popularity contest”, and told News Corp: “I am going to call out some of this shit.”
Kendric Davis of the Kings and Bryce Cotton of the 36ers pose during the NBL finals series launch.Credit: Getty Images
In an Instagram live rant, Davis said: “All I know is you put my stats up against his stats and take our faces off, and tell the NBA to vote on who should win MVP, I guarantee I come out on top.”
Cotton brushed off Davis’ comments, saying he was too busy buying drinks, but in a dream result for the NBL’s marketing department, the beef between the two superstar guards has a few more episodes still to run – and on the sport’s biggest stage.
Cotton led the 36ers to a semi-final series win over South-East Melbourne Magic on Tuesday night and earned Adelaide a spot in the championship series against the Kings, who beat Perth and are on a 13-game winning streak.
That means the NBL’s two big dogs will go head-to-head for the title, and adding even more spice is the fact Davis quit Adelaide for Sydney in acrimonious circumstances last year, and has subsequently admitted there is still “bad blood”. The 36ers responded to his exit by recruiting six-time MVP Cotton.
The NBL grand final series couldn’t have been scripted better if they’d got the maker of MAFS involved.
“I know he’s excited to go back to Adelaide. He’s probably going to get booed. The energy is going to be crazy,” Cooks said. “But as a team, we really thrive in those environments.
“All year in that match-up [with Cotton], KD’s taken it personal. He’s just that kind of player that can really excel in those one-on-one match-ups. I think the KD thing – his past club, that kind of beef – it just puts fuel under his fire.”
So did the MVP voters do Sydney a favour by snubbing Davis?
‘He’s probably going to get booed. The energy is going to be crazy.’
Xavier Cooks on Kendric Davis’s return to Adelaide
“Nah, I think he’s already a fiery competitive dude as it is. That might have added a little bit more, but he’s already fiery,” Cooks said.
“If you ask Kendric, the thing he wants most is a championship. When he lost that award, the one thing he says is, ‘I want to win something they can’t vote on, and that’s the championship’.
“It takes out all the bias and the opinion. At the end of the day, basketball’s a team sport, and he wants to win that championship, in all honesty.”
Under septuagenarian supercoach Brian Goorjian, the Kings are chasing their first title since 2022-2023 and are considered slight favourites, given their recent form and array of big-name identities.
Kendric Davis with Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut at Kings training.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Goorjian, who has won six NBL crowns (including a three-peat with the Kings in 2003-05), has Andrew Bogut on his coaching staff, and former Chicago Bull Luc Longley as a consultant. Both former NBA stars are part-owners.
On the floor, ex-NBA and Boomers guard Matthew Dellavedova has been hailed as a hugely influential addition to the Kings this season, and the 35-year-old will be chasing his first NBL crown after losing two grand final series with Melbourne United in 2024 and 2025.
The Kings were written off early in the year when they were 3-5 and receipts were kept, says Cooks.
“You can’t help but see all the comments online, all these analysts counting us out, and that put fuel to our fire,” he said.
Goorjian said he was always confident the Kings would contend when they found their groove, and they did mid-season. Goorjian hailed Dellavedova’s influence at the club, and said the man who famously guarded Steph Curry in the 2016 NBA finals would play a key role in stopping Cotton, who is averaging 34.5 points in the finals.
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