After Sunday\u2019s Game 5 victory, the Sydney Kings have now won three championships in the past five seasons.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s not the same as the three straight the franchise won from 2003 to 2005, there\u2019s an argument that the club is currently in their second dynasty.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t all been sunshine and rainbows, but the Kings have established themselves as one of the premier teams in the competition since 2018, when NBA champion Andrew Bogut joined the franchise.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Paul Smith and Paul Kind took over as majority owners in 2019, and Chris Pongrass became the club\u2019s CEO and chief decision-maker.<\/p>\n
While success didn\u2019t immediately follow, the club was on the right path, reaching the 2019-20 Championship Series under Will Weaver, before losing to Perth.<\/p>\n
A down year followed, before the club appointed Chase Buford as head coach.<\/p>\n
That masterstroke led the Harbour City side, who had Robyn Denholm and the Wollemi Capital Group join the ownership group that also consisted of Luc Longley and Bogut in 2022, to back-to-back championships in NBL22 and NBL23.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of that second title, there was a changing of the guard in Sydney, with the likes of Buford, Xavier Cooks, Derrick Walton Jr, Tim Soares, Justin Simon and Dejan Vasiljevic all departing.<\/p>\n
Two down years, where the Kings were knocked out in the Play-In Qualifier, ensued, but in the latter, coach Brian Goorjian explained, \u201cthere were a lot of good things\u201d to come from the season.<\/p>\n
That laid the foundations for the club\u2019s incredible NBL26 campaign, in which the Kings finished in top spot with a 24-9 record, thanks to a 14-game win streak at the back end of the year.<\/p>\n
Goorjian\u2019s side then went 5-2 during the post-season to claim the club\u2019s sixth NBL championship.<\/p>\n
While there have been plenty of moving parts during this eight-year span, one star who\u2019s been a part of all three titles is NBL23 MVP, Xavier Cooks.<\/p>\n