Cotton 'shocked' by teammate's departure

Time moves fast in basketball, and the last few weeks have highlighted that for the Adelaide 36ers.

A little over a week after they lost Game 5 of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 Championship Series to Sydney, sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic and the club mutually decided to go in different directions.

The Australian Boomers took to Instagram to thank the Adelaide faithful for their support over the past three seasons.

“Adelaide, you have a special place in my family’s life, and Adelaide fans, you are truly special,” Vasiljevic said.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for embracing a kid from a different state and calling me one of your own.”

Like most, this separation came as a shock to Vasiljevic’s teammate and six-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton.

“I don’t think any of us thought that [Vasiljevic departing] was going to be on the cards,” Cotton said to CODE Sports.

“We didn’t have a team meeting and talk about it after we got the news because a lot of people aren’t even in Adelaide anymore (with it being the off-season), so I can only speak from my perspective, but I’m pretty sure it was a shock to basically everybody. Nobody thought that was coming, but again, sport is very unpredictable.

“Things happen so quickly, but I think with ‘DJ’, he’s such a good player, and he’s done enough in this league to prove his worth. Wherever he ends up next, he’s going to hit the ground running.”

While Vasiljevic is still weighing up his next hoops home, the 36ers welcome defensive dynamo Bul Kuol to the City of Churches this week.

Kuol and Cotton are joined by Zylan Cheatham, Flynn Cameron, Isaac Humphries, Nick Rakocevic, Isaac White and Ben Griscti on Mike Wells’ roster for the Hungry Jack’s NBL27 season.

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Read the full story here >> Bryce Cotton admits Dejan Vasiljevic’s 36ers departure was a shock after finals series loss