Kings crowned 2025/26 regular season champions

The Sydney Kings have tonight been crowned the Hungry Jack's NBL 2025/26 regular season champions.

The Kings locked up top spot with a dominant 117-77 win over the last-placed Brisbane Bullets to record their 11th straight victory.

Furthermore, outstanding point guard Kendric Davis delivered another serious statement as to why he should win the coveted MVP award with 31 points in just three quarters.

It’s a remarkable effort by the Kings to finish with a 24-9 record after a rocky start to the season.

In doing so, the Brian Goorjian coached Kings defied the record books by becoming the second team in their franchise history to make the playoffs after starting the season with a 3-5 record.

The first was former Coach Chase Buford, whose Sydney team finished the NBL 2022/23 season with a 21-4 run before taking out the championship.

The match up marked the 150th NBL game for Kings forward Xavier Cooks, a two-time championship winner with Sydney and the 2023 NBL Most Valuable Player (MVP).

With only pride to play for in their final game, the Bullets came out with plenty of enthusiasm to take a 33-26 lead after the first quarter to give their faithful followers some hope. Davis found his rhythm early with five from five field goals for 12 points.

After eating up Brisbane’s early lead, the Kings defence kicked in with some strong energy from the bench as Sydney took a 58-50 lead at the main break. Davis finished the first half with 27 points, the 10th consecutive game he had surpassed 20 points in the first 20.

The Kings applied the blowtorch in the third to pull away comfortably to open up a 30-point margin to finish the quarter with a 90-60 lead.

The ever-reliable Shaun Bruce stepped up to replace a rested Davis in the fourth to control the play as a devastating Sydney outscored the Bullets 59-27 in the second half.

Sydney surpassed the 100 points mark for the eighth straight game this season, the first time the Kings have achieved this feat in over 20 years.

The win was soured by a shoulder injury to Tyler Robertson (11 points) in the final quarter.

Sydney now awaits to see who they play, and when, in their home semi-final series.