Adelaide doesn't want headlines, just wins

The Adelaide 36ers may be sitting comfortably in first place on the ladder, after winning 13 of their past 14 matches, but one of their stars says the team isn't getting complacent.

Knowing how hard it is to win an NBL title, two-time champion Dejan Vasiljevic explained that his side always finds ways to stay motivated.

The 36ers sharpshooter said this motivation comes from both internally and externally, where he feels the 19-4 Sixers are still flying under the radar.

"You look at the first part of the season, it was Melbourne United [people were speaking about]," Vasiljevic said during Adelaide's media availability on Wednesday.

“I feel like now they're talking about the Sydney Kings, so we're still not talked about yet.

“[Despite that] we're trying to not to be complacent and we're just trying to keep doing what we do best.

"There's always room for improvement, and when people don't talk about us, it's the best because it motivates us more to keep kind of going.

“In a basketball sense, we want to get better as athletes, and we understand we still have a lot to do. We feel like we can get a bit better defensively, so we'll just keep doing what we can.

“We still have 10 games in the regular season to kind of get to where we want to and then obviously start the Playoff front.”

The Sixers, who last won a title in 2022, have not won more than 19 games in a season for two decades, and yet still have 10 games of the regular season remaining.

A big part of their potentially record-breaking season, Vasiljevic says, comes back to the culture they've built over the past few seasons, since he arrived during NBL24.

"The vibes are high in Adelaide right now, and we've just got to continue doing what we're doing," the Australian Boomer said.

“Obviously, some people have been around a lot longer, like Isaac [Humphries] and [myself], but we're just trying to change the culture, and I think we're doing a good job in that aspect and obviously, sitting in first on the ladder and winning games helps.”

Adelaide next hosts Tasmania on Friday night from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.