Wildcats won’t rush out-of-contract Cotton

The Perth Wildcats won’t pressure Bryce Cotton into making an immediate decision on his playing future, owner Mark Arena says. 

Speculation around potential offers from overseas has grown in recent months, with the five-time MVP out of contract. The West Australian reported the Wildcats would make Cotton an offer that would make him the highest paid player in the league’s history and take up more than half of its salary cap. 

But despite being eager to lock down their star man, the Wildcats will give him time.

“We’ve not sat down. We need to certainly do that,” Perth owner Mark Arena told The Dribble Podcast.

“Bryce is in our view the best player in the league and should be compensated as such. That’s such a key part of what does the roster look like. If Bryce is going to re-sign with us, what does the team look like? If he’s not, what does the team look like? It is totally different. But we don’t have any dates yet.”

Perth was knocked out at the Playoff stage of its NBL25 campaign, going agonisingly close to a spot in the Championship Series. 

Cotton’s incredible MVP season went a long way towards his team’s success and any hopes of going one better next year would surely hinge on the 32-year-old staying at the club. 

“It’s going to be a challenging off-season for us. We had a lot of stability with the roster in the previous off-season,” Arena added.

Cotton boasted career-high scoring numbers in his seventh season as a Wildcat, averaging more than 28 points a game.