Wildcats provide Cotton update

Saturday, September 23, 2023

"You hold your breath for a second but the moment he shook me off to stay out there, that gave me my breath back."

The Perth Wildcats are confident superstar guard Bryce Cotton is good to go for next Friday’s season opener after suffering a left knee injury on Thursday night.

In the final quarter of the Wildcats’ NBL Blitz clash with New Zealand, Cotton went down in pain grabbing his knee.

While the three-time MVP stayed in the game for a short period, he was eventually taken off for the final seven minutes.

Coach John Rillie says the move was done to protect Cotton with the regular season right around the corner.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BC gets the contested three to go ?<br><br>? Watch live & free on Kayo Freebies <a href="https://t.co/ji9npu8pKc">pic.twitter.com/ji9npu8pKc</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1704801988360487215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It was a precaution. As much as you want to win every game, I also have to be mindful that the 29th of September is not too far away,” Rillie told The West Australian.

“He was comfortable to go back into the game. You hold your breath for a second but the moment he shook me off to stay out there, that gave me my breath back.”

Perth captain Jesse Wagstaff (head knock) will be assessed during the week, with his status for the season opener unknown.

The Wildcats host the Tasmania JackJumpers at RAC Arena at 9:30pm AEST next Friday night, live on ESPN via Kayo Sports.