The Adelaide 36ers (also well known as "The Sixers") are currently the only team in the NBL based in South Australia. They play their home games at the Adelaide Arena, known as "The Brett Maher Court" within the NBL.
The Adelaide 36ers tally of four championships is equal with the Melbourne Tigers, and second only behind the Perth Wildcats as the most by any club in the NBL's history.
However under coach Marty Clarke in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, the club finished with the wooden spoon and in the Bomb-Shelter in both seasons and ended each with an 8-20 record, including a club record losing streak of 8 straight games during both seasons. The club was also plagued by a string of failed imports, though most were lost through injury, others either under-performed or were misused by the coaching staff, with the only shining light being power forward Diamon Simpson who posted 12 double-doubles in 27 games. At the end of the 2012-13 NBL season coach Clarke and his assistant coach Mark Radford were let go by the club. There were bright spots though. The emergence of 6'11" (212 cm) centre Daniel Johnson as a scoring and rebounding threat (he led the club in scoring for both seasons and led the NBL with 8 rebounds per game in 2012-13), the signing of former Gold Coast Blaze players Adam Gibson, Anthony Petrie and Jason Cadee, and the emergence of exciting young Victorian Swingman and crowd favourite Mitch Creek (who suffered a season ending Achilles tendon injury in mid 2012-13), gave fans hope for the future.
For the 2013–14 NBL season, the Adelaide 36ers signed the 2007 NBL championship winning coach Joey Wright as their new head coach and added former 36ers championship player Kevin Brooks as his assistant. In desperate need of on-court direction, the club also signed the 2011 NBL MVP, point guard Gary Ervin. After Round 7 of the season the 36ers, led by Ervin and Johnson, were sitting in 2nd place on the NBL ladder with a 7-2 record which included a 5-0 run. This also saw the team sweep both of their games against the Breakers in Auckland, their first wins over the triple defending champions since 2009. During Rd.7 the 36ers underlined their championship credentials when they defeated the previously undefeated Perth Wildcats 91-86 in front of 6,585 fans at the Adelaide Arena, the largest 36ers home crowd since Brett Maher's last home game in 2009.
Finishing second behind the Wildcats the 36ers took them all the way in the best of three final series but in the end home court advantage saw the wins going always to the home team and the championship yet again to Perth. What a remarkable turnaround. From twice bottom to all so close!