Show the numbers
| Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 | R19 | R20 | R21 | R22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Adelaide | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| South East Melbourne | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Perth | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Melbourne | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Tasmania | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| NZ Breakers | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Illawarra | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Cairns | 9 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Brisbane | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Why?
Sydney were 7–7 after Round 11 and still finished top of the ladder and won the title. I wanted to go back through every round and see where the season turned.
Melbourne early, Sydney late
Melbourne won their first nine games and sat top of the derived ladderClubs ranked on regular-season wins, then points differential, then points scored. The NBL's official tiebreak is head-to-head record first, so clubs level on wins can sit differently on the official ladder. Worked out from the scores. after every round from Round 1 to Round 11. Adelaide went top in Round 12 and stayed there to Round 20. By then Melbourne had slipped to fifth, where they finished.
Sydney were fifth and 7–7 after Round 11. They won 17 of their last 19, finishing with 11 wins in a row. Sydney went second in Round 19 and top in Round 21.
- Sydney, regular season
- 24–9
- 13–4 home · 11–5 away
- wins in a row to end the regular season
- 11
- Rounds 16–22
- points differential, the league's best
- +397
- 3,276 for · 2,879 against
A club's points differentialPoints scored minus points conceded, over all 33 regular-season games. Derived from the final scores; no feed publishes it. is what it scored minus what it conceded. Sydney's +397 was the league's largest. South East Melbourne finished third on 22 wins but had the second-best differential, +263. The NZ Breakers and Illawarra both finished 13–20; the derived ladder puts the Breakers seventh on differential, where the official ladder would separate them on head-to-head first.
Show the numbers
| Pos | Club | Won | Lost | For | Against | Differential | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney Kings | 24 | 9 | 3276 | 2879 | +397 | 13–4 | 11–5 |
| 2 | Adelaide 36ers | 23 | 10 | 3042 | 2890 | +152 | 12–5 | 11–5 |
| 3 | South East Melbourne Phoenix | 22 | 11 | 3324 | 3061 | +263 | 11–5 | 11–6 |
| 4 | Perth Wildcats | 21 | 12 | 2996 | 2840 | +156 | 10–7 | 11–5 |
| 5 | Melbourne United | 20 | 13 | 3041 | 2905 | +136 | 11–6 | 9–7 |
| 6 | Tasmania JackJumpers | 14 | 19 | 2873 | 2884 | −11 | 6–10 | 8–9 |
| 7 | NZ Breakers | 13 | 20 | 3022 | 3058 | −36 | 7–9 | 6–11 |
| 8 | Illawarra Hawks | 13 | 20 | 3074 | 3205 | −131 | 7–9 | 6–11 |
| 9 | Cairns Taipans | 9 | 24 | 2754 | 3194 | −440 | 4–13 | 5–11 |
| 10 | Brisbane Bullets | 6 | 27 | 2710 | 3196 | −486 | 2–14 | 4–13 |
Brisbane finished last at 6–27. They lost 13 in a row and won 2 of their 16 home games.
Of the 165 regular-season games, 46 were decided by five points or fewer. Another 46 were decided by 20 or more. The median margin, the one in the middle when every margin is lined up, was 11 points. The widest was Tasmania's 114–70 win over Brisbane on 6 February 2026.
Home court, or the higher seed?
Home clubs won 83 of the 165 regular-season games, 50.3%. Only 2021-22, at 47.9%, was lower in the six seasons stored.
The top six played finals. South East Melbourne beat Perth 111–94 and Melbourne beat Tasmania 82–68. Perth then beat Melbourne 95–77. In the two playoff series, Adelaide beat South East Melbourne 2–1 and Sydney beat Perth 2–0.
The championship series went the full five games.
Sydney112
Adelaide68
Adelaide91
Sydney89
Sydney106
Adelaide93
Adelaide92
Sydney91
Sydney113
Adelaide101
The home side won all five. Across all 13 post-season games the home side won 12. The exception was Sydney's 89–75 win in Perth in the second playoff series.
Over the six seasons stored, home clubs won more often in finals:
| Six seasons | Games | Home won | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finals | 72 | 50 | 69.4% |
| Regular season | 892 | 478 | 53.6% |
The higher seed hosts in finals, so that gap mixes home court with ladder position.
Cotton, top again
Bryce Cotton was the league's top scorerHighest regular-season points per game among players with at least 10 games and 15 minutes a game. again: points a game across 32 regular-season games. Of the six stored seasons, it was the first at Adelaide, after five with Perth. Cotton's highest that season was 53, against Cairns in Round 5.
Bryce Cotton, points per game by season
regular season · since 2020-21 · club and games in grey24.4 since 2020-21
Show the numbers
| Season | Club | Games | Points per game | Season high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | PER | 32 | 23.5 | 36 |
| 2021-22 | PER | 28 | 22.7 | 33 |
| 2022-23 | PER | 26 | 23.4 | 40 |
| 2023-24 | PER | 27 | 23.1 | 41 |
| 2024-25 | PER | 24 | 28.6 | 59 |
| 2025-26 | ADL | 32 | 25.7 | 53 |
Since 2020-21, where the stored data starts, Cotton has averaged 24.4 points a regular-season game. Cotton topped the scoring list in five of the six seasons. In 2022-23 Mitchell Creek and Cotton were level at 23.4. Cotton's best season was 2024-25, at 28.6, and it included 59 points against the NZ Breakers on 1 December 2024.
And 2026-27?
These numbers were read on 15 September 2026 and stop at the 2025-26 championship. No 2026-27 games are in them, and nothing on this page says how that season will go. I want to draw the same ladder, round by round, once 2026-27 has been played, to see where that season turns.
Summary
- On top
- R1–11MelbourneR12–20AdelaideR21–22Sydney
- Sydney
- 7–7after Round 1124–9+397, the league's best
- Championship series
- 3–2Sydney over Adelaide5 of 5won by the home side
The working
Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read
- Ladder
- Derived: regular-season wins, then points differential, then points for. The official NBL tiebreak is head-to-head first. After each round it counts every game with a round number up to that round, so clubs had played different numbers of games; a club yet to play sits on no wins.
- Season
- 165 regular-season games, Rounds 1–22, 18 September 2025 to 20 February 2026. 13 post-season games, 4 March to 5 April 2026.
- Margins
- Final scores, overtime included. The median is the middle of the 165 regular-season margins.
- Home court
- Home and away as the data labels them, 2020-21 to 2025-26. The 2020-21 and 2021-22 finals are stored as early rounds and were split out by date.
- Cotton
- Regular-season points per game, counting games with minutes played. Season highs include finals. Since 2020-21 only, where the stored data starts: 186 games and 4,549 points, finals included. Top scorer among players with 10+ games and 15+ minutes a game.
- Read
- 15 September 2026, from Punt's database. Completed games only.
- Not in this article
- The 2026-27 season, or anything about prices.
- Sources and terms
- Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.