Davis, Cotton feud spills onto social media

Kendric Davis has blown his feud with Bryce Cotton wide open, launching an extraordinary social media spray at the Adelaide star on Sunday night and branding him the “king of throwing rocks and hiding his hand”.

Adelaide won the Championship Series rematch 84-78, the first meeting between the clubs since Davis led Sydney to the NBL26 title in a series packed with heated moments between the pair.

But Sunday’s result was overshadowed by a late flare-up between the League’s two biggest stars, who had to be separated in the final minute and were each hit with a flagrant foul.

Davis pointed to the championship logo on his jersey. Cotton fired back by holding up six fingers, one for each of his NBL MVPs.

Hours later, Davis took to X.

“Wait to [sic] game over and call me out my name then play victim like he always do [sic],” Davis wrote.

“King of throwing rocks and hiding his hand. Ion [sic] f*** with dude, he political genius [sic] behind scenes, he does a lot of fake s***.

“I’m me win, lose, or draw. See you Dec 13. That trophy in Sydney for now though.”

Cotton, who finished with 17 points, 8 assists and 2 steals, said post-game that Davis had been waiting for his moment.

“I don’t know. You know, sometimes people got me marked on their calendar,” Cotton said.

“I’m quiet until you got something to say. And everybody knows how I get down.

“I’ve been doing this for years and at the end of the day, this is Adelaide versus the Kings. Fortunately, we came out with the win.”

Asked how it felt to go one-nil up in a new chapter of the rivalry, Cotton shrugged it off.

“It’s just another game. Same movie, different actors,” he said.

36ers coach Trevor Gleeson backed his star in his post-game press conference, taking aim at the off-the-ball nature of the clash.

“You can call it whatever you want to call it, but there’s no reason for that,” Gleeson said.

Kings coach Brian Goorjian took a different view, saying the drama is good for the sport.

“I think our sport needs it,” Goorjian said.

“That [rivalry] generated a lot of support for our game in the Final Series, and it hasn’t gone anywhere.”

Adelaide next plays the JackJumpers in Tasmania on Friday, while the Kings take on New Zealand in Canberra on Wednesday, with both games live on ESPN.