NBL 2024: Tragic heartbreak and pride behind Cotton’s MVP run

NBL superstar Bryce Cotton is a four-time NBL MVP, but his past two wins hold special significance. MICHAEL RANDALL takes us behind the tragedy which has driven him to be the best.

NBL superstar Bryce Cotton recently became a four-time NBL MVP, but the American-born Perth Wildcats guard says his past two Andrew Gaze trophies hold special significance — for vastly different reasons.

Cotton was named the league’s best player in 2018 and 2020, but the tragic passing of a relative prior to his 2021 MVP campaign left the Arizona-native broken but determined to honour his lost loved one.

“I lost a relative before that season started, and I just wanted to go out there and give it the best I’ve got,” Cotton, who averaged 23.5 points and 5.7 assists in 2021, told Code Sports.

“Before he had passed, he sent me a very, very inspiring message and so I wanted to go out there and do all I could to try to make him proud.

“So that one meant a lot to me because I went through a lot that season, personally.”

Bryce Cotton simply couldn’t be stopped in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

Fast forward to the beginning of the 2023-24 season and the Wildcats won just two of their first seven games, with many wondering if a struggling Cotton was done at 31.

The 14.4 points on 29 per cent from the field and murmurs of frustration out of the Wildcats camp — including an infamous Facebook post from wife Rachel — prompted an “honest” team meeting.

“Everybody vented, said what they were feeling, and we were all receptive to it,” Cotton said of the flash point in the Cats’ season.

“Nobody held back what they had to say, but not in a bad way.

“It just helped us realise, no matter what, high or low, we’re in this all together and that’s when we slowly started to find that jell.”

Bryce Cotton is leading the Wildcats to yet another NBL post-season campaign. Picture: Getty Images

It helped Cotton snap out of his funk, too, posting a monster 26.6 points per game on 43 per cent shooting, with 4.2 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals on the way home to book a top-two finish and seal a fourth MVP that seemed a pipe dream just a few months prior.

“With this one, It’s good because I heard a lot of naysayers and all that type of stuff,” he said.

“But I never lost belief.

“Being fortunate enough to turn the season around, individually, as well as turning the season around as a team, it was special, because I learned a lot about myself and a lot about life.”

The very private Cotton is a tough — if not impossible — nut to crack but former teammate and fellow Perth legend Damian Martin says once you’re part of his circle, he is fiercely loyal.

Bryce Cotton is described by Wildcats legend Damian Martin as fiercely loyal. Picture: Getty Images

That moment came for the six-time Defensive Player of the Year during Cotton’s fourth season when, out of the blue during a quiet moment in the locker room, he opened up on some of his toughest moments, including the childhood epilepsy that threatened his life and the struggle of being overlooked by the best colleges in his youth.

“He sat there and just spoke about the challenges he’d faced throughout his life,” Martin said.

“I just sat there captivated. I learnt more about him in that half an hour than in the previous four years.”

Cotton has learned to open up more, over the journey, especially with the media, conscious of his regal standing in the NBL and the fan interest in him, not just as a basketballer, but as a person.

Bryce Cotton has opened up more than ever in recent time. Picture: Getty Images

“I probably just think people want to talk to me more,” he laughed.

“I’m not really an open person but if people try to talk to me, you know, I’ll engage in that.”

Whenever Cotton speaks, though, everyone within earshot gives their undivided attention, 15-year Perth veteran Jesse Wagstaff says.

“Sometimes you forget he’s been in the league seven or eight years and he’s certainly a veteran,” Wagstaff said.

“He doesn’t speak too much but, when he does, everyone from the coaching staff all the way down listens and pays attention.

“Because he’s so smart and intellectual, it’s always something that has meaning and insight and it’s always spoken with passion.”

For teenage Wildcat Ben Henshall, Cotton has set the standard the young rookie wants to meet.

Wildcats youngster Ben Henshall is thriving alongside Bryce Cotton. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

“We’ve got a bit closer recently and he’s been a big influence, a role model, for me,”

Henshall said.

“Even just watching how he plays, how he goes about it day-to-day, how professional he is, just learning off a guy like that has been pretty special.

“I know he always has my back, even when he’s on the other team at practice, if I’m hitting a tough shot, he’s always the first one to say ‘nice shot’.”

Henshall has the job of guarding the lightning quick guard every day in practice.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a mission,” Henshall laughed.

“He comes off those down screens, on balls, super fast and he knows all the reads.

“He’s one of the toughest people I’ve guarded, but that’s just making me better.”

Cotton, on Friday night, begins his quest for a fourth NBL title, leading the Wildcats into battle against Tasmania in the best-of-three semi final series, which tips off in front of the Red Army at RAC Arena.

Asked if he can pair a championship with an MVP gong for the second time, a trademark grin lights up his face: “We’ll see what happens.”

Originally published as NBL 2024: Tragic heartbreak and pride behind Cotton’s MVP run