Cooks eyes Playoff payback with Kings

The moment the Sydney Kings qualified for the NBL Playoffs, Xavier Cooks' mind turned to repaying his teammates for the drug ban that sidelined him from last season's title push.

The ex-NBA forward tested positive to a recreational drug just before the last post-season and was forced to watch from the sidelines as Adelaide ended the underachieving Kings' 2024/25 season in sudden death.

Cooks later called his drug use "one of the biggest mistakes of (his) life" and served a one-month ban imposed by Sport Integrity Australia.

Almost a year to the day from that ban ending, Cooks will suit up for Sydney against Perth on Wednesday for the first match in a best-of-three Playoff Series for Championship Series qualification.

The occasion has brought last year's mistake to mind, and the chance to make things right.

"I think about that a lot," Cooks told AAP.

"The moment we qualified for the Playoffs, I thought about that, and how much of a blessing it is to be able to play in the Playoffs this year, especially with the team of guys that we have."

All season, gun Kings recruit Matthew Dellavedova has seen that spark burn in Cooks, who earned selection in the All-NBL Second Team for the second year running.

Cooks averaged 13.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in another great season for the versatile Wollongong product.

"I had a conversation with him before I had committed to come to Sydney and he was just focused on getting back on the floor and helping the Kings win," Dellavedova told AAP.

"He's been like that all year."

The star-studded Kings enter the Playoffs as the overwhelming championship favourites, having won 17 of their 19 last matches, as well as all three clashes with Perth during the regular season.

The defeats over Playoffs opponents the Wildcats came at an average margin of 23 points, and bookmakers have Sydney shorter than $2 to win the championship from here.

"I think the boys thrive on being that guy, the wolves, the big dogs. I think we've got the personalities for it," Cooks said.

"(But) we can still get better on the offensive end, and then rebounding the ball, little things on defence, trying to get to the free-throw line, penetrate the key more, things like that."