Pongrass, in his late 30s, told Jason Cadee on the latest episode of Cut to the Jase<\/a> that he had gone to Game 4<\/a> in Adelaide on April 1, 2026, hoping the Kings would get it done on the road \u201cknowing full well that if it didn\u2019t, I was leaving 48 hours later to go over to the US.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kings didn\u2019t, and he did.<\/p>\n Former Sydney Kings two-time NBL champion Dejan Vasiljevic turned back the clock to keep the 36ers alive as Pongrass, the former seven-year CEO of the Sydney Kings, sat in the stands with 10,068 rabid Adelaidians.<\/p>\n Pongrass, who stepped down in June 2025 but stuck around for the rest of the year, is now a player agent with Lighthouse NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), which primarily manages deals for Australian basketballers in American college basketball. He is likely to be busy, given more than 50 Australians are in the 2026 NCAA Transfer Portal.<\/a><\/p>\n He was a prime mover in assembling the 2025-26 Sydney Kings roster as well as the championship teams, including Vasiljevic, in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to Game 5, Vasiljevic again turned back the clock to his somewhat acrimonious Kings exit and perceived \u201cring ceremony snub\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vasiljevic, 28, played a key role in the Kings\u2019 back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, but the relationship soured when he left the club to chase an NBA dream that didn\u2019t work out, before a controversial return to the NBL as a 36er.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a few people in that organisation (Sydney) who didn\u2019t want me back,\u201d Vasiljevic said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I take it as a slap to the face, but that\u2019s part of the business, that\u2019s a part of life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main culprit isn\u2019t there anymore, so I\u2019ll keep that under wraps.”<\/p>\n It was a less-than-veiled swipe at Pongrass.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had their ring ceremony, and I don\u2019t know what happened,\u201d Vasiljevic said. <\/p>\n \u201cAll I know is there was no invitation to me or my family.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in America at the time, and my family asked me the question, and I said: \u2018No, I haven\u2019t heard anything\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I returned back into the league, (former assistant) Fleur McIntyre was in town, came to watch an Adelaide game, and she was the one who actually gave me my ring.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happened, but it was three years ago, so, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n Pongrass said he was struck by the timing of Vasiljevic\u2019s ring ceremony dig <\/a>with Game 5 just hours away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was interesting reading that narrative from afar, right before Game 5, you know, two days before Game 5,\u201d Pongrass said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like, you know, hopefully everyone\u2019s focused on the game itself, so that was interesting.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I don\u2019t wanna air out dirty laundry. It\u2019s upsetting to hear it because you see it framed as one side of the story. <\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s got their own truth, and that\u2019s fine whether it comes out or not. I just think it\u2019s a non-issue.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, he did play for us, and he won two championships, and he was a huge part of those two championships, which, again, it\u2019s hard to understand once you win a championship with a team, you’ve got that connection forever. So he\u2019ll forever be remembered and appreciated as a Sydney King for what he did in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cHim moving on \u2014 players move on, right. Teams move on from players, players move on from teams. People get cut, there\u2019s good and bad blood when you leave, all of those things. It\u2019s been three years, it\u2019s almost like \u2018get over it\u2019.<\/p>\n “And so to hear that, I think everyone\u2019s in a better situation. He\u2019s loving his time in Adelaide, and he\u2019s happy, and that\u2019s great. And we just, the Sydney Kings just lifted a championship. So if you could go back and say, \u2018Was it the right decision?\u2019, arguably it\u2019s hard to say no. <\/p>\n “Of course it was, right, this path led us to winning, you know, the Kings winning an NBL championship.<\/p>\n \u201cSo would I change things? Absolutely not. It was completely the right decision. Everyone\u2019s got their truth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ring ceremony one \u2014 yeah, look, in the NBA, for those who see it, the returning players receive a ring on opening night if they\u2019re still on the team. Players don\u2019t get flown in, and their families get flown in to accept the ring. I didn\u2019t fly in Tim Soares or Derrick Walton or, you know, whoever else might have been that had been moved to another team in a year where they didn\u2019t get a ring. They get it when they return.<\/p>\n “And you know, so no, that\u2019s not \u2014 it\u2019s not a snub. We didn\u2019t snub him or his family. We don\u2019t fly people from the US, you know, to come accept the ring on a night, especially ones that aren\u2019t playing for us anymore.<\/p>\n So, you know, we were lucky enough that (Xavier Cooks\u2019) family lives in Wollongong and drove up to accept his ring. I think that\u2019s a different situation. <\/p>\n “But also, Xave is the captain of that team.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so I again \u2014 would I change things? Absolutely not. <\/p>\n \u201cBut the off-court stuff, it\u2019s hard to not wanna respond immediately, so I\u2019ve tried to keep my lips shut, but it is what it is. I think everyone\u2019s just gotta move on from it now, it\u2019s been three years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Watch the full interview with Chris Pongrass<\/a> in the Player Above where he talks about:<\/p>\n Lifelong connection to the Sydney Kings \u2013 \u201calways have a special place in my heart\u201dKendric Davis recruitment<\/a>:Known talent, but maturity was a key factorDavis openly addressed past challenges during recruitmentMatthew Dellavedova<\/a>:Elite leadership and professionalismNotable mindset \u2014 asked, \u201cHow are you going to make me better?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Pongrass responds to DJ Vasiljevic claims after Kings title, watched Game 5 from US hotel. Chris Pongrass…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-597471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d8a4576d267110a0be7fe5_GettyImages-2269882026.jpg\")
Kouat Noi of the Sydney Kings consoles Dejan Vasiljevic of the 36ers after Game 5 of the NBL Grand Final series between Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers at Qudos Bank Arena on April 5, 2026 in Sydney. Photo: Sarah Reed\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d8a4c5fbc634a1a171aef9_GettyImages-1369711174.jpg\")
Dejan Vasiljevic won back-to-back NBL championships with the Sydney Kings. Photo: Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n