Sydney Kings are the 2026 NBL Champions
Written By
Wayne Cousins
The Kings claimed their sixth NBL Championship banner in a thrilling 113-101 overtime victory over the Adelaide 36ers in a game five decider at Qudos Bank Arena. It was the biggest ever NBL crowd.
Sydney previously won the title in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2022 and 2023.
A sold-out crowd of 18,589 saw the Kings dig deep in overtime with NBL MVP runner up in Kings superstar, Kendric Davis, named the player of the game, and Championship Series MVP.
Davis finished with 35 points and 14 assists to finish the finals series as the Kings leading scorer with 136 points. He also set a new record for most assists in a championship series.
NBL MVP Bryce Cotton and Davis produced a new NBL record for the most points in a game five decider with 35 points each.
With Sydney’s win, Kings Coach Brian Goorjian claimed his seventh NBL title to go with his seven NBL coach of the year awards.
It was a well-deserved championship victory for the Kings, who finished the regular season as minor premiers with a 24-9 record.
The Kings had to overcome some serious adversity from injuries to a poor start that left Sydney with just three wins after eight games and a dark cloud over the rest of their season.
However, the experienced Goorjian rallied his troops and they went on an amazing 14-game winning streak as Sydney confirmed as title favourites.
With the series locked at 2-all after both teams won their respective home games, the first quarter produced a tight affair with both teams matching one another.
Adelaide took a 31-29 lead at the end of the term on the back of 11 points from Bryce Cotton.
For the Kings, Tim Soares led the way with seven points ahead of Davis with six points and six assists.
The second quarter produced another absorbing contest with the Kings taking a 56-55 lead into half-time.
In a first half that saw the lead change 21 times, Cotton led the way for Adelaide with 18 points and four assists.
Xavier Cooks topscored for the Kings for the half with 15 points ahead of Davis with 11 points and nine assists. The Kings finished the half with 19/40 field goals and 6/15 threes.
The third quarter saw Adelaide gain some momentum late, taking the game’s biggest lead with seven points into the final quarter with a 76-69 lead.
Adelaide’s Flynn Cameron was fouled out of the game with just eight minutes left, the third time this season against the Kings.
Cotton produced a rare four-point play after being fouled in shooting a three with just under 2.30 left. He then struck Davis in the nose in fouling to leave the Kings down by four.
From there, a three pointer from Davis left the Kings trailing by one with a minute to go before Matthew Dellavedova was fouled out in defending Cotton, leaving the superstar to sink all three free throws for a 95-91 lead with 41 seconds left.
A Davis basket reduced the margin to two before Sydney had the last chance with Soares pulling in a rebound off Davis to level the game with 4.6 seconds left.
Cotton then missed a final drive to the hoop to send the game into overtime at 95-all.
Adelaide had a second player fouled out in Nick Rakocevic after 40 seconds of overtime.
Davis gave Sydney their biggest lead of the game with a three for 106-100 lead before Torrey Craig was fouled out on Cotton.
The Kings then grabbed an 11-point lead with a minute to go after baskets to Davis and Galloway before Makuach Maluach had a free run to the basket to seal the historic victory to end a memorable Championship Series that had everything.
Soares finished the game with 20 points, Cooks 19, and Galloway 16. Davis also topped the ladder with 15 assists while Cooks had 12 rebounds.
Dellavedova capped off a superb first season with the Kings by claiming his first ever NBL title to go alongside his NBA ring won 10 years ago.
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