Despite NBL MVP Xavier Cooks declaring himself fit to play Game 3 of the NBL Championship Series, NBL analyst Liam Santamaria is struggling to see how the star forward will take to the floor 100 per cent fit.

Cooks managed just nine minutes of court-time in the Kings’ Game 2 win over the Breakers as he battles with ankle and corky issues he picked up in Game 1. The Kings also had to manage without star point guard Derrick Walton Jr who was battling the remnants of cramp.

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Justin Simon and Kouat Noi stepped up in the absence of the pair in the victory, and Santamaria has compared the potential seriousness of Cooks’ injury to a former league MVP’s just a few seasons ago.

“You think of that corky, you have some time to get it right between then and this upcoming game,” Santamaria said on NBL Today. “If you go back to what Bryce Cotton experienced a couple of years ago and he wasn’t able to participate in the Playoffs as a result.

“Remember his was multiple knocks to the same spot which is what Cooks experienced late in Game 1, so that will be interesting to see.

“We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out on Friday night.”

While Cooks has declared himself as fit to play, no such news has been declared on Walton Jr.

Walton Jr managed even less time on court than Cooks in the Game 2 victory. After suffering what Santamaria describes as an “almighty cramp” at the back end of Game 1, he managed just four minutes on the court before being put on ice for the rest of the game.

“We’re a couple of days away from this big Game 3/Game 4 weekend and the MVP has said he’s good to go … I feel like I’m expecting the same thing from Derrick Walton Jr,” he said.

“I haven’t heard anything to suggest injury per se, apart from that almighty cramp he experienced there in Game 1.

“Hopefully that’s the case, but we know it is for Xav Cooks which is exciting.

“I was chatting to Breakers owner Matt Walsh over in New Zealand and he said he wants those guys on the court because this is the Championship Series, let’s have all the best players here juking it out.”

Cooks and Walton Jr will be hoping to be fit and firing for Friday night’s Game 3 – which will double as one of the final few games Cooks will play in the NBL before heading to America to play with the Washington Wizards in the NBA.

The game will be shown live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies from 7:30pm AEDT on Friday, March 10.