'MV-3': Cole Anthony crashes the Cotton and Davis MVP race

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NBA-level starting point guard Cole Anthony has entered the chat.

Before his signing with Melbourne United this week, NBL fans were waiting for six-time MVP Bryce Cotton vs two-time MVP runners-up – Adelaide 36ers vs Sydney Kings in NBL26 Grand Final clashes in NBL27.

Instead, we now have a monster 10 games where two of the three will go up against each other in what we can only describe as must-see TV.

If it were 1999, we’d tell you to program your TIVO, but fortunately it’s not pre-Y2K, and it’ll be live on ESPN and on-demand for those with friends getting married on Saturday, September 19, 2026 – the only excuse to miss the very first game of NBL27: Melbourne United vs Adelaide 36ers.

For two seasons, it’s been an MVP race between Bryce Cotton and Kendric Davis, but Anthony, who is the son of former NBA star Greg Anthony, can and more than likely will change that equation dramatically.

Australian NBA veteran Joe Ingles said Anthony was not only a “great dude” but also ready to take the next step as he entered his prime.

Ingles and Anthony played together at the Orlando Magic in 2023-24.

"I've seen Cole do some pretty unreal things at the highest level,” Ingles said this week.

“I've seen it in the NBA, whether I was teammates with him or playing against him over the years.

"Like I said, he can score the ball with the best of them.

“He's super athletic and gets downhill. I think over the course of the season I was there, he learned more and more how to be a point guard – not just getting himself going, but getting the guys around him going as well.

"Defensively, it'll be an adjustment here because it's a different style. He's not playing against 6-foot point guards and things like that. But defensively he'll be great.

“He's so athletic, he can move, and I think he'll be big not just for our team but for the league as well.

"Cole's a great dude."

Cotton now has six MVPs, just one behind the award’s namesake, Andrew Gaze.

The 33-year-old guard averaged 25.6 points and 8.1 assists for the Adelaide 36ers (23–10), had three 40-point games and one game above 50 points, and finished with the league’s highest SuperCoach average (48.6).

He edged Sydney Kings point guard Kendric Davis by just TWO VOTES - 96 to 94.

Cotton won MVPs in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

But it was Davis who avenged the MVP loss with a championship, leading the Kings to the NBL26 crown in a five-game Grand Final Series for the ages against Cotton’s Adelaide 36ers.

As the old saying goes: “Three’s a crowd,” and that makes NBL27 one of the most highly anticipated in the modern era.

Game on.