'I wanted to let the world know': Davis

Ever since he set foot in Australia, Bryce Cotton has taken the NBL by storm.

Across his 10 seasons with Perth and Adelaide, the guard has won six MVP awards and three championships.

But that balance of power has potentially started to shift, with Cotton’s growing rivalry with Sydney Kings star Kendric Davis.

The pair have faced off 13 times since Davis arrived in the League for the 2024–25 season with the Sixers.

Across that span, Davis is averaging 27.1 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals, while also leading the Kings to the NBL26 championship.

It was during that epic five-game Championship Series, in which Davis won MVP, that the pair’s rivalry stepped up a notch.

“I love Bryce, and I love everything he's done,” Davis said on NBL Now.

“When I first entered the League, I told everybody over and over how much I admired what he's done and how much I respect his game.

“But at some point, it's time for me to take that step in my career.

“When I see you [Bryce] win MVP, that's a bonus that I could have got in my cheque that I could have won.

“Or if you win the championship, I've got to see you hold that trophy up for the next seven months. I want to hold that trophy up.

“It's love and respect, but at some point, that has to go out the door, because if you respect someone and love them too much, you've already lost, and I understood that.

“I felt like I was the best player in the League at that time, or I was playing the best basketball in the League at that time, and I want to let the world know that.”

The 27-year-old compared his rivalry with Cotton to two of the sport’s all-time greats.

“It [our rivalry] is like in the NBA, [where] Steph Curry grew up watching LeBron,” Davis said.

“But at some point, it was time for him to be better than LeBron.

“LeBron loved Steph Curry when he first came into the League, but when Steph figured it out, that’s when they became rivals.

“Now they're at the end of their career, and they’re friends. They understood at that time that we can't be friends, because you are in the way of what I want.

“That doesn't mean it's personal; it's just basketball. It's not life or death, and ain't nobody dying.

“It's entertainment, it's basketball, and this is how we feed our family.”

The first Championship Series rematch between Davis and Cotton is on Sunday, October 11 at Qudos Bank Arena from 3pm AEDT.

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