Fit for a King: The rise, fall and return of Sydney

After three Championship Series appearances and two titles in the space of four years, the Sydney Kings were the benchmark in the Hungry Jack’s NBL.

But after the NBL23 title win over New Zealand, things started to change for the Kings.

Xavier Cooks signed with the Washington Wizards in the NBA.

Key imports Derrick Walton Jr (Zhejiang Lions - China), Justin Simon (Scaligera Verona - Italy) and Tim Soares (Grises de Humacao - Puerto Rico) all signed deals overseas.

Sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic joined Washington’s NBA G League side before signing an Exhibit 10 contract.

And just as damning, coach Chase Buford parted ways with the club.

With all five starters and their coach gone, the Kings needed to rebuild around their core of Shaun Bruce, Jordi Hunter, Angus Glover, Jaylin Galloway and Kouat Noi.

They first signed Mahmoud Abdelfattah to replace Buford, before re-signing NBL22 MVP Jaylen Adams.

Then the likes of Denzel Valentine, DJ Hogg, Alex Toohey, Makuach Maluach, Sam Timmins, Klairus Amir and Jasper Rentoy followed.

Despite this retooling, the Kings finished the NBL24 regular season in fifth spot with a 13-15 record.

This pitted them in the sudden-death Play-In Qualifier against New Zealand at Qudos Bank Arena, which they lost 83-76 to end their two-time championship defence on a sour note.

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Mahmoud Abdelfattah and Denzel Valentine in NBL24.

After the high standards set over the previous few seasons, the club moved quickly to rectify this poor finish.

Within the next few days, Abdelfattah was moved on before the club re-signed Kings legend Brian Goorjian to be their coach.

The competition’s all-time games leader, who has already delivered the club three championships, was tasked with bringing the purple and gold back to the NBL summit.

He had his work cut out for him, with only Bruce and Next Star Toohey under contract for NBL25, but Goorjian knew where his rebuild had to start.

So he and CEO Chris Pongrass went to the Philippines to chat with NBL23 MVP Cooks, who was playing for the Japanese B-League club during an Asian tournament.

The two-time champion jumped at the chance to return to “his second home” and play for Goorjian, with the coach knowing the importance of this signing.

“Getting him back at the Kings was my number one priority because once you get a piece like this, this whole thing changes,” Goorjian said when the club announced the signing.

"He's one of those guys that people want to play with and elevates others around him with his energy and skillset - not to mention, giving us a chance to win."

Once the Australian Boomer had signed on the dotted line, others fell into place.

Noi, Adams, Maluach and Galloway (fresh off a stint with NBA G League side, the Wisconsin Herd) re-signed, while the club penned Cam Oliver, Bul Kuol, Keli Leaupepe, Tyler Robertson, Izayah Le’afa and Jason Spurgin to deals.

Under Goorjian, the Kings jumped out of the gates and won their opening two matches against Adelaide and Perth away from Sydney.

But due to injuries and inconsistent play, the Kings traded wins and losses to find themselves sitting in fourth at the halfway mark of the NBL25 season.

Admittedly, the season gradually gained momentum and at the end of Round 17, the Kings found themselves in second spot following a vital road win at South East Melbourne.

But three straight defeats to end the season, Adelaide, Perth and Illawarra saw them finish fifth at the end of the home and away season.

That pitted them against an explosive 36ers team in the Play-In Qualifier once again.

In deja vu, the Kings, without the likes of Cook, Leaupepe and Galloway in the lineup, lost by seven points to the Sixers, ending their campaign at exactly the same spot as the previous season.

But instead of making wholesale changes, Goorjian believed in his group and decided to retain the core and tinker around the edges.

And tinker he did, landing three crucial pieces to the puzzle.

Needing backcourt help, the Harbour City first signed NBA champion and four-time Olympian Matthew Dellavedova.

“It’s a huge statement signing for us, and everyone affiliated with the club is over the moon to welcome Delly to Sydney,” Goorjian said.

“We identified, going into this off-season, that we needed help in that guard position, and the standout of the free agency group was Delly, so we did everything we could to get him to the club, and we’re excited to secure his amazing services for the next few seasons.

“He’s that guy who will make everyone else on the roster better, because it's not about him scoring, but rather generating easy baskets or doing whatever is required for us to succeed as a collective.”

As big as that signing was, the next was arguably even bigger, with Kendric Davis deciding to move from Adelaide to Sydney.

“Upon addressing how to take this team forward, after last season, we knew we needed to bolster our backcourt, so to be able to add someone of Kendric’s quality, alongside Delly, is massive for our club,” Goorjian said.

“Honestly, with the roster we had in place after Delly signed, I don’t know if there is anyone better suited to our team than Kendric.

“I’m pumped that two players of their calibre wanted to come to our franchise, which shows just how highly respected the Kings brand is, how highly our fans are thought of and the respect they have for the players on our roster.”

The final piece was a big man inside the paint, who could also stretch the floor, so the club decided to bank on a proven commodity and bring back NBL23 champion Tim Soares.

“The elements Tim brings to the table complement the players we already have on our roster, so it really is a perfect fit. Not to mention, everyone I spoke to about him had nothing but good things to say,” Goorjian said.

With this squad at his disposal, Goorjian, who added Andrew Bogut to his coaching staff in the off-season too, was confident his group could push for a championship.

But on the eve of the season, Sydney lost big men Leaupepe (knee) and Spurgin (foot) to long-term injuries, seeing them sign Hunter Goodrick as an injury replacement, as well as Lueth Awan and Malual Goc as development players.

These and some other teething issues saw Sydney famously open the season 3-5.

But as Davis said in a recent interview, the group’s confidence never wavered.

“At 3-5, we were laughing ... like they really think we're going to be 3-5 bad, but nobody [internally] was pointing fingers,” Davis told Kings Media.

“Everybody was just like, 'we're going to figure it out'. I remember texting X (Xavier Cooks) ‘let's be great’, and he was like ‘let's do it’.

“Then the look in the guys' eyes in the locker room that whole following week, [was like nothing I’d] ever seen before.

“After that, the group kind of believed [in ourselves].”

That internal confidence quickly turned into four straight wins, which was a precursor of things to come for Sydney.

Following two straight defeats to Tasmania and New Zealand, six straight wins for the Kings ensued, powered largely by their league-best defence.

The heartbeat of that defence was Bul Kuol, who, after an injury-riddled stretch, had started to regain his mojo.

But disaster struck for the Kings during their January 2 fixture in Adelaide, with Kuol going down in the second quarter with an ACL injury.

Slightly rattled, the Kings lost that fixture to Adelaide before being forced to rule out their South Sudanese international for the season.

Another defeat ensued, this time at the hands of the Phoenix.

But the Kings regrouped and returned to the winners’ circle against New Zealand and Melbourne.

That was just the start of the good news for the Kings, who announced the signing of NBA veteran Torrey Craig as an injury replacement for Kuol.

Buoyed by the signing of Craig, who fit in seamlessly, the Kings finished the season on an 11-game win streak.

During that stretch, they proved to be the best offensive and defensive team in the NBL, led by MVP runner-up Davis and All-NBL Second Team member Cooks.

Since the end of the regular season, thanks to two Playoff victories over Perth, the Kings have extended that streak to 13 games and are now just three wins away from a championship, with one of the deepest squads in recent memory.

“It [this group] is one of the best I've coached for a long time, and it's one of my most enjoyable years to this point,” Goorjian said in the lead-up to Game 1 of the NBL26 Championship Series.

The highly anticipated NBL26 Championships Series, between Sydney and Adelaide, tips off at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday at 7pm AEDT, live on ESPN and 10 Drama.