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Xavier Cooks (born 19 August 1995) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League. He played college basketball for the Winthrop Eagles, where he was named the 2018 Big South Conference Player of the Year. In 2022, he helped the Sydney Kings win the NBL championship while earning Grand Final MVP honours.

Xavier Cooks
Cooks with Würzburg in 2019
No. 10 – Wellington Saints
PositionPower forward
LeagueNZNBL
Personal information
Born (1995-08-19) 19 August 1995 (age 27)
Ballarat, Victoria
NationalityAustralian
Listed height203 cm (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight83 kg (183 lb)
Career information
High schoolHoly Spirit College
(Wollongong, New South Wales)
CollegeWinthrop (2014–2018)
NBA draft2018 / Undrafted
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018–2019S.Oliver Würzburg
2019–presentSydney Kings
2022–presentWellington Saints
Career highlights and awards
  • NBL champion (2022)
  • NBL Grand Final MVP (2022)
  • All-NBL Second Team (2022)
  • NZNBL MVP (2022)
  • NZNBL All-Star Five (2022)
  • Most Outstanding Forward (2022)
  • Big South Player of the Year (2018)
  • 2× First-team All-Big South (2017, 2018)

Early life


Cooks was born in Ballarat, Victoria to father Eric and mother Josie. His father is an African-American expatriate who became a naturalised citizen of Australia,[1] and his mother is Australian.[2] He was raised alongside siblings Georgia and Dominique, the latter of which formerly played professional basketball for the Illawarra Hawks.[3] His father played college basketball for St. Mary's College in California before relocating to Australia to pursue a professional career in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) and National Basketball League.[4] The family moved to Wollongong when Xavier was a young age as his father accepted an assistant coaching role with the Illawarra Hawks.[5] Cooks attended Holy Spirit College.[6]


College career


He chose to attend Winthrop over offers from schools such as UC Santa Barbara, Boise State, Hartford, Maine, and Nicholls State.[7]

Xavier Cooks shooting a free throw against VCU.
Xavier Cooks shooting a free throw against VCU.

On 15 February 2017, Cooks recorded the first 20-point, 20-rebound game for Winthrop since 2003.[8] At the close of the season, he was named first-team All-Big South Conference.[9]

In 2017, Cooks was named to the Australian "Emerging Boomers" squad for the 2017 Summer Universiade.[10]

In the 2017–18 season, senior Cooks became Winthrop's all-time leading rebounder.[11] At the close of the Big South regular season, Cooks was again named first-team All-Big South and the Big South Player of the Year.[12]

In 2020, two years after graduating from Winthrop, he was voted into the Big South Men's Basketball All-Decade Team (2010-19).[13]


Professional career


After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, Cooks joined the Golden State Warriors for the 2018 NBA Summer League.

On 27 July 2018 Cooks signed with S.Oliver Würzburg.

Cooks joined the Phoenix Suns for the 2019 NBA Summer League.[14]

In July 2019, Cooks signed with SIG Strasbourg of the French LNB Pro A league.[15] On 7 August Cooks was injured at training and was later released from SIG Strasbourg.[16]

On 27 November 2019 Cooks signed with the Sydney Kings of the Australian NBL on a multi-year deal.[17] He opted out of his contract with the Kings on 2 May 2020 due to the salary cuts that were implemented by the NBL to protect the league during the coronavirus pandemic.[18] After exploring his options, on 7 July 2020 Cooks re-signed with the Kings on a one-year deal.[19] He averaged 10.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game during the 2020–21 season.[20]

On 30 June 2021, Cooks re-signed with the Kings for the 2021–22 NBL season.[21] He helped the Kings win the 2022 NBL championship while earning Grand Final MVP honours.[22]

On 18 May 2022, Cooks signed with the Wellington Saints for the rest of the 2022 New Zealand NBL season.[23]


National team career


In early August 2019, Cooks made the final cut for Australia's 2019 FIBA World Cup roster.[24] However, one week later he was forced to withdraw from the competition due to a knee injury sustained during practice.[25]


References


  1. Evans, Kyle (4 June 2019). "Son of Ballarat Miners great Eric Cooks is taking after his father in a big way". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  2. Glauber, Bill (24 February 2018). "Australian mom wouldn't miss Xavier Cooks' Winthrop Senior Day game". The Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  3. Keeble, Tim (11 September 2014). "Dominique Cooks re-signs with Hawks". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  4. Glauber, Bill (16 May 2017). "For Winthrop parents, a long basketball journey from Australia to Milwaukee". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  5. "Sydney Sign Xavier Cooks on Multi-Year Deal". NBL.com.au. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  6. Ward, Courtney (8 August 2019). "Xavier Cooks named in Australian Boomers squad for FIBA World Cup". South Coast Register. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  7. Boyce, Dan (6 July 2014). "Xavier Cooks, the unknown second generation Aussie basketball star". aussiehoopla.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  8. "Xavier Cooks has first 20/20 game for Winthrop since 2003". USA Today. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  9. Wimberly, Nate (27 February 2017). "Keon Johnson named Big South Player of the Year". wbtv.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  10. Barrow, Tim (22 June 2017). "Cooks has booming career". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  11. "Xavier Cooks became Winthrop's all-time leading rebounder as the Eagles dropped Radford". Miami Herald. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  12. "Big South Announces 2017-18 Men's Basketball Award Winners" (Press release). Big South Conference. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  13. "Big South Announces 2010-19 Men's Basketball All-Decade Team". Big South Conference. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  14. "S.Oliver Wurzburg signs rookie Xavier Cooks to replace Mitch Creek". Sportando. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  15. "Xavier Cooks s'ajoute au roster". SIG Strasbourg (in French). 25 July 2019.
  16. "Xavier Cooks ne sera pas Strasbourgeois". SIG Strasbourg (in French). 27 November 2019.
  17. "Sydney Sign Xavier Cooks on Multi-Year Deal". nbl.com.au.
  18. "Xavier Cooks opts out of deal with Sydney Kings". Sportando. 2 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  19. "Xavier Cooks returns for NBL21 | NBL". www.sydneykings.com.
  20. Uluc, Olgun (26 June 2021). "NBL Free Agency: who's on the move". ESPN. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  21. "Sydney Re-Sign Xavier Cooks". NBL.com.au. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. "Kings Win First Championship in 17 Years with Record Crowd". NBL.com.au. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  23. Hinton, Marc (18 May 2022). "Saints signing coup: Kiwi NBL champs snap up Australian finals MVP Xavier Cooks". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 18 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ""I earned my spot" Xavier Cooks on his shock Boomers call-up". smh.com.au.
  25. "MITCH CREEK REPLACES XAVIER COOKS IN BOOMERS FIBA WORLD CUP TEAM". australia.basketball.




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