The Washington Wizards have waived Australia's Xavier Cooks the day before the new NBA season tips off.
The Wizards confirmed the news with the release of their 18-man roster for the first match of the season, against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday (AEDT).
The Wizards signed Cooks to a four-year deal, the versatile swingman's first in the NBA, during the Sydney Kings' NBL play-offs tilt in March.
The newly minted NBL MVP joined the Wizards days after guiding the Kings to the title and averaged 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.6 minutes of game time with his new side.
Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr increased Cooks' minutes when it became clear his side would not qualify for the post-season and the Australian finished the campaign with 10 appearances.
Cooks, 28, featured heavily in the Wizards' Summer League campaign in July, averaging 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds from 20.7 minutes per game.
He most recently played for the Wizards in a 134-98 pre-season thrashing by the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.
But only two days out from Washington's first match of the regular season against the Pacers, the Wizards waived Cooks along with veteran power forward Taj Gibson.
The decision leaves the Boomers representative a free agent heading into the NBA season.
The Kings, with whom Cooks won two NBL championships, have no roster spots available so would need to waive a player of their own to bring him back for the ongoing 2023/24 season.
The Sydney side opted not to cut anyone when Cooks' championship-winning teammate Dejan Vasiljevic returned to Australia earlier this month.
Cooks' axing comes after Australian duo Duop Reath and Jack White were waived by the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder respectively in the lead-up to the new season.
