Saints snare Sydney Kings’ finals MVP to boost title hopes
Saints basketball fans, you can exhale. The MVP of the Australian NBL grand finals series is coming to Wellington to save your season.
The 12-time Kiwi NBL champions and winners of four of the last five titles have signed Sydney Kings allNBL forward Xavier Cooks as the final piece of a puzzle they hope will be enough to lift another banner in their TSB Arena home stadium.
The Saints are in need of help after an understrength lineup has limped to an 0-3 start to the new season, including a 106-91 loss to the unbeaten Auckland Tuatara in Wellington on Monday night.
And Cooks might just be the entire cavalry, based on the season he’s just had with the Kings en route to their first Aussie NBL title in 17 years.
Cooks was crowned MVP of the grand final series won 3-0 by the Kings over competition newcomers the Tasmania JackJumpers.
Saints general manager Jordan MIlls said Cooks’ addition should be enough to not just reverse the losing skid to start 2022, but take the club all the way to another banner.
Saints coach Guy Molloy was equally excited about having a full roster after the Sydney success had always meant they were going to have to play the waiting game in 2022. Cooks joins close friend and Kings team-mate Tom Vodanovich as the final additions for the Wellington club.
Vodanovich is already with the Saints and will line up in Sunday’s home game against Canterbury. He was unable to take the floor on Monday night because his Fiba clearance had not come through. Cooks is expected to join him in the capital over the next week.
Molloy said the additions of Cooks and Vodanovich would not only address the Saints’ lack of size, interior defence and rebounding, but should also elevate their offence to put them right back in the title mix.
Mills revealed Cooks had been on the Saints’ radar for some time. He was slated to join the club last season but had to pull out when he was called up to join the Boomers on their Olympic buildup programme.
There remains a possibility Cooks could be summoned by an NBA team, a la Jock Landale following his NBL success with Melbourne last season, but it was a risk the Wellington club was willing to take.
‘‘We’ve started slow, but we think having Tom and Xavier will really move the needle for us and put us back in the top echelon of the league,’’ Mills said.