Crosscourt: Latest basketball news ahead of round 11 of the 2024-25 NBL season
History-making Wildcats star Bryce Cotton could command a mouth-watering salary following his record-breaking scoring haul, but it could price the four-time MVP out of the NBL.
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History-making Perth superstar Bryce Cotton could command almost $2.5 million on the open market in Asia following his record-breaking scoring haul.
It’s a mouth-watering amount of money that could price the legendary four-time MVP out of the NBL.
The American guard is the toast of the competition after dropping 59 against New Zealand – the most points in a single game from any player in over 30 years.
The off-contract Wildcat’s masterful scoring display comes as he weighs up his future, post NBL25.
A source with intimate knowledge of the Chinese Basketball Association said Cotton could secure up to $2.5 million per season.
He’ll also get an apartment, driver and personal chef.
“If he can score 59 in a game in the NBL, he could score 70+ in China because the guards are small and teams just can’t defend.”
It leaves Cotton with a big decision – take the money on offer abroad to maximise his career earnings, stay loyal to Perth beyond a ninth season or join another NBL team with the likes of Brisbane and Melbourne United in the mix for his signature. There is also the spectre of testing himself in EuroLeague.
Cotton’s former Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson wasn’t surprised to see the star guard’s 59-point explosion.
Gleeson believes the American has the ability to crack the 70-point mark.
As he watched Bryce Cotton’s 59-point NBL explosion, Boomers great Shane Heal couldn’t help but lament the Wildcats superstar has never had the chance to wear the green and gold.
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“If Bryce wasn’t so unselfish, he could have easy got 70 points, or broken Al Green’s 71 point record in 48 minutes,” Gleeson said.
“People forget when he dropped 45 points in Game 3 of the 2017 grand final series against Illawarra – he didn’t score in the first quarter.”
NEW COACH EXPLAINS ‘FEEL’ PHILOSOPHY BEHIND IMPORTS’ BENCHING
New South East Melbourne coach Josh King’s “park your ego at the door” approach to the game continues to fascinate the NBL.
One game after import wing Joe Wieskamp received the dreaded ‘did not play – coach’s decision’ in Perth, former NBL grand final MVP Derrick Walton Jr sat the entire second half as young gun Owen Foxwell led the Phoenix to victory over Illawarra in a thriller.
It prompted the former NBA guard’s father Derrick Walton Sr to take to social media: “To his credit, Foxwell played well you have to go with a hot hand but you can’t just sit your star import and don’t explain to him why he’s not playing the rest of the game.”
But when the ball tips, there are no reputations in King’s thinking – he coaches on “feel” and told Crosscourt his door was always open to any player who wants to discuss any issue.
“I don’t ever really go into a game with minutes marked out for any player and that’s the honest truth,” King, on the back of Foxwell’s 22-point, 7-assist explosion, said.
“With the assistants, we talk about it in game, and you have a little bit of an idea going into a game, but I go on feel for the time.
“You’re going to go with the guys that you feel like put you in the best position to win a game and that can change from game-to-game, from quarter-to-quarter from half-to-half and we’ll continue to do that.
“I tell all my players, if there’s something that needs to be discussed or they want more information on a particular topic, playing time, not happy, something else, I’m an open book and I think they know that.”
A dominant force in Sydney who averaged 16.3 points and was second in the NBL in assists at 6.3 per game during the Kings’ NBL23 title run, injuries have hampered Walton Jr’s return season in South East Melbourne, limiting the former NBA man to 8.9 points, on 37.5 per cent shooting, and 4.4 assists.
“Derrick’s a smart player, he’s been around, he’s played at high level places, he’s been all over the world,” King said.
“I think he understands how we want to play and he’s just got to play better and he’s fully capable of playing better and we think he’s going to.”
King’s arrival has breathed new life into the Phoenix, who have recovered from an 0-5 start to go 6-3 since the club pulled the trigger on Mike Kelly and now sit just outside the top six.
KINGS KEEP THE FAITH
The Sydney Kings have no plans at this point to listen to pleas from fans to sign another player following Jaylin Galloway’s season-ending shoulder surgery.
Galloway’s setback has prompted calls for the Kings to scour the market for another star to make a championship push, but CEO Chris Pongrass says the club will stick solid with the current roster, believing it can deliver a title.
Development player Jason Spurgin has been elevated as Galloway’s injury replacement on Sydney’s roster, but the club still has the option to add another player.
“It was a devastating blow to lose Galloway for the season, but has been encouraging to see others step up,” Pongrass said.
“Right now, we believe we have the group that can compete for a championship.
“But, at the same time we have flexibility if we are to ever decide to add a piece.”
The Kings have been inconsistent but shown in patches they possess the defence and star power to compete with anyone.
Sydney is ranked No.2 in defence, while big names Xavier Cooks, Jaylen Adams and Cam Oliver are among the NBL’s best players.
KESTELMAN’S CELEBRITY VISION FOR NBL
NBL boss Larry Kestelman has lifted the lid on his vision for the league’s stars to become household names like those in the NBA.
The Australian domestic league is on an upwards trajectory, but Kestelman believes there is scope for the players to have bigger profiles.
He referenced the NBA as the benchmark – a competition whose stars like LeBron James and Steph Curry have global appeal.
Kestelman says storytelling can help to place the NBL’s athletes on a bigger platform as the league continues to rise.
“I want to see the NBL be what the youth considers as cool,” Kestelman said.
“The NBA is cool and I want our players to be celebrities and better known.
“I really want to take the NBL to the next level of players being better recognised. As a sport, our players are not recognised enough.
“We have some amazing stories in the NBL that we need to tell more.”
LIGHTNING’S WNBL FUTURE UNCERTAIN
The future of bottom-placed WNBL battlers Adelaide is up in the air with the Lightning for sale amid losses of more than $2.5 million over the past two-and-a-half years.
Billion-dollar property developer Pelligra has guaranteed it will continue to fund the club and its player wages for the rest of 2024-25 but has told the league’s new ownership group it will hand in the licence at season’s end if no buyer is found.
The Wollemi Capital-NBL takeover of the WNBL from April next year was only set in concrete last week, with media and entertainment guru Jennie Sager announced as the league’s incoming chief executive officer.
Crosscourt has been told Pelligra is “well down the track” with a potential buyer but, if a suitor for the franchise cannot be secured before May next year, the WNBL’s new owners have refused to guarantee the club’s future.
A source confirmed NBL club Adelaide had been sounded out on its interest in re-assuming control of the Lightning – which plays out of the Pelligra-owned Adelaide 36ers Arena.
But it’s understood Sixers powerbrokers are not interested. Adelaide 36ers owner Grant Kelley, in 2019, sold the Lightning to a consortium headed up by former Lightning chairman Bruce Spangler.
Formed in 1993, the Lightning have struggled for several years. After finishing second-last in each of the past two seasons, they’re bottom-of-the-table with just one win from six starts, despite sporting Paris bronze medal-winning Opals Steph Talbot and Isobel Borlase and WNBA import Brianna Turner.
While the WNBL won’t provide crowd numbers, Crosscourt has been told the Lightning had just 600 fans at last Friday’s clash with Townsville. The average crowd at a home game is 818 in a stadium that holds 8000.
Crosscourt has been told, outside of the players, coaches and performance crew, the Lightning have a skeleton staff of just one full-time employee and three casuals running the club.
Pelligra’s SA director Steve Wren, who doubles as the Lightning’s general manager, said the board, which has a wide portfolio of developments and sporting teams – including Adelaide Giants baseball and Adelaide Adrenaline ice hockey – had decided new ownership whose sole focus was the WNBL club was needed.
“This is the third season of us holding the licence and we’ve turned in significant losses, this is a sporting industry that can be financially draining,” Wren said.
“After investigating, we really know that we need to get somebody on board that would be completely focused on the Lightning.
“We’re working with an interested party to take on the license and we’re well down the track with that.”
Wren said Pelligra would continue as a sponsor of the Lightning.
The Lightning news comes after two teams changed hands this year, with Perth Lynx sold by Basketball WA and Melbourne Boomers wound up, its licence transferred to Geelong United
Originally published as Crosscourt: Latest basketball news ahead of round 11 of the 2024-25 NBL season
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