‘It’s because I’ve got a 36ers jersey on’: Adelaide’s Kendric Davis hits back criticism

Adelaide 36ers import Kendric Davis has lashed out at the criticism he has been copping on social media, blaming the club’s ‘past history’ while saying it would be different if he ‘was with Sydney or Illawarra.’

Kendric Davis reckons his Adelaide 36ers are targeted by the media because of the club’s recent controversy.

Davis clashed on social media with ESPN reporter Olgun Uluc and then ramped up his argument about the unfair treatment of the 0-2 Sixers in a media appearance on Tuesday.

Davis had responded to Uluc’s posted on X about whether the import point guard’s play on both ends of the floor is conducive to winning in the NBL.

“If I’m being honest, I just think it’s because I’ve got an Adelaide 36ers jersey on, really,” Davis said.

“I think they just doing it for clickbait.

“If I was with Sydney or Illawarra, I think they’d give me a pass — ‘It’s two games, like they’re adjusting’ but, because I’ve got Adelaide on … and we know the past history, I think anytime they can try to stir up drama here, they will.”

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Kendric Davis has fired back at ESPN’s Olgun Uluc.

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— NBL (@NBL) September 30, 2024

It’s true, the 36ers do have a checkered history over the past decade, sacking numerous imports and coaches, the most recent Scott Ninnis on the eve of this season.

“It ain’t been the best here, It ain’t no secret, everybody know that,” Davis said.

“So when there’s drama here, you’ve got people that want clickbait to get more drama, because you won’t get that in Sydney.”

Through two games, Davis is second in the NBL in assists at eight per game, but has coughed it up four times and was -14 in a narrow loss to Sydney and is shooting just 30 per cent from the field and 30 per cent from deep. It’s a small sample size, but it’s a journalist’s job to call it as they see it and Davis clearly hasn’t hit his best form yet. In the same tweet, Uluc criticised underperforming Brisbane import James Batemon and highlighted South East Melbourne’s defensive struggles.

The 25-year-old had already hit back online — “I’m go make sure we revisit this tweet in a few months” — but claimed he didn’t care about the critique and was “just trolling”.

“I can care less. That’s why I said in a few months, not a few games,” he said.

What do you think of Kendric Davis’ start to life at the 36ers. Picture: Getty Images

“You got teams that start out 2-0 and end up not making the playoffs and you’ve got teams that are going to start out 1-3 that make it.

“Outside noise don’t do nothing.”

“(If) we started out 2-0 … they still wouldn’t be talking about (our record).

“They’ll be saying, ‘Oh, it’s just two games. Small sample size, we’ve got to see later on how it is.’

“It don’t really matter. It’s Adelaide, they’re going to find some way to dumb it down.”

Davis is the latest Adelaide import to partake in a little verbal media jousting — two years ago this reporter had some amusing by-play with churlish former import point guard Craig Randall after the scoring machine noticeably shunned his teammates during a rendition of the anthem before a game at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena.

The young gun who shares this reporter’s surname was none-too-pleased at some playful banter that he was “my cousin”.

Originally published as ‘It’s because I’ve got a 36ers jersey on’: Adelaide’s Kendric Davis hits back criticism