Preview | R3 Away v Sydney

It's a new-look Bullets team for NBL27 starting with coach Will Weaver down to a lot of the playing group. That era has got off to an impressive start, but now the biggest test so far comes this Wednesday night at Afterpay Arena in Sydney.

After the opening two rounds of the season, the Kings and the Bullets are the only two teams yet to taste defeat so they put their 2-0 records on the line to open Round 3 with the game tipping off at 7:30pm.

It's also the start of the in-season Ignite Cup tournament which will take place on Wednesdays throughout the season with all roads heading towards a four-team finals series in Canberra across the weekend following the end of the NBL regular season.

There's some enticing prizemoney on offer too with a total prize pool of $550,000 while each Wednesday game still counts like a normal NBL regular season game too, and it's only the finals that are played outside of NBL27.

That means there's plenty to play for early in the season for both the Kings and Bullets with the prize on offer being the only undefeated team remaining in NBL27 and improving to a 3-0 record along with giving themselves a strong start in the Ignite Cup race.

It has been an impressive start to the new season from both teams with the Bullets beginning at Pat Rafter Arena overrunning the New Zealand Breakers to win 88-85.

That saw Arnas Velička produce a spectacular debut with 23 points, 14 assists, five rebounds and 5/9 three-point shooting with Tyrell Harrison adding 22 points, seven boards and four blocks, Nate Hinton 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Bullets backed that up on Friday night beating the Illawarra Hawks 103-95 and on that occasion rookie Max Mackinnon fired with 31 points, 12 rebounds and 6/8 three-point shooting.

He had plenty of help too with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists from Harrison, 16 points, 10 boards and four steals from Hinton, 17 points and 11 assists from Velička and 12 points and four rebounds from Jacob Holt.

But the defending champion Kings have been impressive to start their title defence too with 21-point victories on their home floor firstly against the Cairns Taipans and then on Sunday, the Hawks.

First up against the Snakes, Championship Series MVP Kendric Davis had 26 points, six assists and five rebounds for Sydney with Xavier Cooks, Torrey Craig, Matthew Dellavedova, Andrew Carr, Will Johnston and Makuach Maluach all scoring in double figures.

Then against Illawarra, Davis had another 31 points, six assists and four rebounds with Craig adding 20 points on 10/15 shooting, Maluach 19 points on 9/9, and Johnston 14 points, four rebounds and four assists with 7/8 shooting.

Wednesday's game will also be the first time for new Bullets coach Weaver to coach against a Kings team that he had within two games of a championship back in NBL20.

The Kings were three games into a best-of-five Championship Series with the Perth Wildcats but Covid was taking over the world and that series was never completed so that's the way that Weaver's first stint coaching in the NBL ended.

Now he is back in the league with the Bullets and for the first road game of the season, it's fitting that it's a return to Sydney for him with Brisbane attempting to avoid an eighth straight loss to the Kings.

In fact since Weaver coached Sydney back in NBL20, the Kings have won 17 of the last 12 games against the Bullets overall over the past six seasons.

Weaver was matter of fact when looking ahead to his return to Sydney for Wednesday night's match up.

"I'm just excited to see a bunch of people I love again so I am looking forward to getting back to Sydney," he said.

"But my focus is on how we can beat the hell out of them."

GAME INFO – IGNITE CUP by 7-ELEVEN

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Sydney Kings

Tip off: 7:30pm (AEST), Wednesday 30 September, 2026

Where: Afterpay Arena, Sydney

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel, Kayo and Disney+