Perth Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton wins NBL MVP as Justin Tatum named best coach

Perth Wildcats guard Bryce Cotton has been named the NBL’s Most Valuable Player for a second straight season. All the awards from Australian basketball’s night of nights inside.

The legend is closing in on the GOAT.

Perth’s remarkable superstar Bryce Cotton has taken home a fifth NBL Most Valuable Player Trophy and now sits just two behind the great Andrew Gaze, who the award is named for.

Cotton has been nothing short of superb in NBL25, his 28.6 points per game comfortably the best of the modern 40-minute era – and a number not achieved since Gaze did it 24 years ago when he put up 29.1 points per game in 2000-01.

It’s an achievement Cotton admits wasn’t even a pipedream when he landed in the NBL nine years ago.

“I only thought I was going to be here six weeks and here we go nine seasons later,” Cotton said during his acceptance speech.

“But God don’t make mistakes, everything happened the way it was supposed to.”

That, it did.

The Wildcats crawled out of the blocks in NBL25 and, when Cotton went down with a nasty rib injury against New Zealand in round five, he would miss five games and return with his side teetering at 5-6.

Thirty-three points against South East Melbourne on his return was followed by back-to-back 13-point games as Brisbane kept him well below his best either side of the FIBA break.

But you can never keep a man who has just booked his eighth scoring title in nine NBL seasons down and so it was New Zealand – where he initially suffered the injury which has left him with a rib permanently poking out – where the 32-year-old produced his magnum opus.

A 59-point explosion that has been hailed as one of the greatest individual efforts in Australian basketball history and kicked off an epic scoring feast.

The Arizonan former NBA man followed that Breakers belting with nights of 40, 49 and 44 and some wondered if we might be looking at Gaze circa 1987 when he averaged 44.1 points per game on the season or the great Al Green in 1984, when he set the league record of 71 and had four games with over 50 points.

Another 41 in the return bout with the Breakers gave him an even 100 across those two games and he closed out the season with nights of 36, 38, 41 and then 49 on Adelaide – the second time he’d done that to fellow MVP finalist Kendric Davis.

It was as if that was an exclamation point and a reminder that, regardless of how good Davis had been with his 25.3 points and league leading 8 assists, this is still Bryce Cotton’s league.

Out-of-contract at season’s end, Cotton has a date with one of his favourite whipping teams in the Phoenix on Tuesday night, which will decide if they book a semi final date with Melbourne United or have to take the hard route through the play-in.

Once that all plays out and the season is done, the Red Army, every other team in the league, and probably just as many overseas, will await the decision of one the biggest free agents in the history of the NBL.

Legacy is important for Cotton – but not his sole driver. Does he stay in Perth and be a one-NBL-club player, while chasing Gaze’s MVP record and add to a title count that currently stands at three, two of those paired with grand final MVP honours.

“Legacy means a lot to me, especially just considering what my mum and my grandma did for me, giving me opportunities and support me growing up,” Cotton said.

“So as much as I want the best for myself every year, every season, I’m trying to make them proud, and that’s where the legacy lies with me.

“I never compare myself to nobody, this is a race with myself.”

“I started on this journey with me, my mum and my gran and it’s still me and my mum, so we’re just going to keep doing it like that and however it goes and goes.”

But, at 32, Cotton knows the end is closer to the beginning and will have a big decision to make on how he maximises his earnings over the next few years.

Wildcats owner Mark Arena is on the record as saying he has the largest offer in the franchise history in front of Cotton – believed to be in the ballpark of $1.2 million AUD per season. Code Sports reported last year both Melbourne United and Brisbane have interest in the superstar and it’s understood that has not wavered, with both clubs expected to make a pitch to Cotton in a bid to lure him out of West.

But that all might be a moot point. Cotton’s asking price in Asia would likely start at around $1.2 million US – net – which would equate to nearly $2 million Australian – straight into his pocket.

What it all makes for is a fascinating end to the season with the Wildcats about to embark on a playoff run, with all eyes on their star, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever to set foot on a court in the NBL.

Bryce Cotton was unstoppable this season. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Boom second-year Illawarra mentor Justin Tatum has been named the NBL’s best coach.

Tatum, 45, guided the Hawks to the foundation club’s first and only minor premiership on the back of a 20-9 record.

The father of Boston Celtics NBA star Jayson Tatum was a popular winner after he was among the three finalists in last year’s Lindsay Gaze Trophy race when he took over mid-season and led Illawarra to the playoffs.

Shea Ili franked his reputation as the NBL’s best perimeter stopper, beating out Tatum’s charge Wani Swaka Lo Buluk to make it consecutive Defensive Player of the Year gongs for Melbourne United’s Kiwi Olympian.

Sydney wrapped up a pair of major awards with Kouat Noi capping off his remarkable rise from inconsistent to the league’s best bench weapon as Sixth Man of the Year and NBA draft hopeful Alex Toohey’s growth as a second-year Next Star reward with the Next Gen Award.

Noi was odds on after averaging 14.8 points and shooting 39.2 per cent from range on nearly six attempts per game.

Kouat Noi was crowned sixth man of the year. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Kings coach Brian Goorjian said Noi exceeded all expectations.

“When I look back I think, ‘thank god I didn’t lose that one’ because I knew Kouat was good but I didn’t know he would have this type of impact,” Goorjian said earlier this season.

Despite his youth, Toohey has been one of Goorjian’s most reliable two-way weapons, averaging 10.6 points and 4 rebounds.

The Canberra-born forward is expected to declare for June’s NBA draft, where he is being tipped as a second-round selection.

Brisbane’s mammoth man in the middle Tyrell Harrison emerged as a genuine force in NBL25, named the league’s most improved player in his eighth season.

Justin Tatum was named coach of the year. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

Harrison’s production grew from 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds last campaign to 14.3 an 9.7. He was joined in the awards by Bullets chief executive Mal Watts, named executive of the year after leading an off-court revamp that included a relocation to the Bullets’ spiritual home at Boondall and a brand new high performance and office facility in the heart of the city.

The Gazey’s, named for seven-time MVP Andrew Gaze, were held in Melbourne on Monday night.

Originally published as Perth Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton wins NBL MVP as Justin Tatum named best coach