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Boomers star Xavier Cooks has praised the Australian NBL for the impact it has had on his successful transition to the NBA with the Washington Wizards.
Cooks joined the Wizards immediately after winning the NBL championship with the Sydney Kings and has made an instant impact, amassing 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in 22 minutes off the bench in the Wizards’ victory over the Miami Heat.
Cooks helped guide the Sydney Kings to a second consecutive NBL title last month and only hours later boarded a flight to Washington, where he was immediately parachuted into the Wizards’ bench rotation.
The 27-year-old found himself restricted to cameos in his first weeks as an NBA player, but when hopes of a play-in berth began to fade and injuries hit, coach Wes Unseld increased the Australian’s minutes.
Cooks started for the first time in the Wizards’ final game of the season on Sunday [Monday AEST], filling in at center against the Houston Rockets as big men Daniel Gafford and Kristaps Porzingis missed through injury and illness, respectively.
Cooks enjoyed his best appearance in his short NBA career with a double-double in his first starting appearance
Cooks celebrates back-to-back championships with the Sydney Kings days before flying out to the US to take up a contract with the Washington Wizards
Despite mostly playing as a forward during the Kings’ championship seasons and being smaller than the average center at 203cm tall, Cooks’ trademark work-rate under the basket helped him compete in the role, and he finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.
He also recorded his first double-double as an NBA player with 10 points. Unfortunately, his efforts weren’t enough to secure victory for the undermanned Wizards, with the Rockets winning 114-109.
Speaking after the game, Cooks explained how the similarities between the NBL and NBA have proved invaluable since landing in Washington.
‘I think the first thing is the speed of the game. The NBL is a really fast league, and the NBA is obviously a pretty fast league,’ Cooks said.
‘The other thing is the physicality and athleticism…it has taken some time to adjust to this league but I’m enjoying it.’
Cooks also expressed his gratitude for the love and support he is receiving from the Australian basketball community, which ‘means a lot.’
Unseld Jr echoed Cooks’ comments, detailing how the NBL is a premier breeding ground for NBA talent.
‘It’s a very competitive league and it’s a very physical league,’ Unseld Jr said of the NBL.
‘It’s known for having high level talent and also having very physical, very aggressive styles of play, so it translates. From an athleticism standpoint, it is very similar.’
Josh Giddey has been a revelation for the Oklahoma City Thunder after cutting his teeth in the NBL with the Adelaide 36ers
Dyson Daniels joined the NBA this season with the New Orleans Pelicans after being picked at No.8 in the 2022 draft
Cooks is not the only Australian player making waves in the NBA. Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels are set to meet in the play-in tournament, where four teams in each conference compete for a total of four playoff spots.
Giddey’s Oklahoma City Thunder will face Daniels’ New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference tournament on Wednesday [Thursday AEST].
Both sides had already qualified for the play-in, so Giddey was one of a number of Thunder stars rested for the 115-100 defeat of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Daniels sat out the Pelicans’ 113-108 loss to Minnesota, whom they could face if they beat the Thunder this week.
The campaign is officially over for Australians Cooks, Josh Green, and Matisse Thybulle, with Green’s Dallas Mavericks and Thybulle’s Portland Trail Blazers failing to qualify for the postseason.
Aussies Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Patty Mills, Jack White, and Matthew Dellavedova are all chances to see postseason action along with Giddey and Daniels.
Ingles and his Milwaukee Bucks have the best shot of going deep into the playoffs, having clinched the coveted No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
