Gleeson reveals Cotton’s stunning NBA rejection

Five-time champion coach Trevor Gleeson has lifted the lid on how Bryce Cotton turned down an NBA shot to win a title with the Wildcats. ‍

Speaking with Fox Sports, Gleeson revealed the superstar guard, then in his first season in Perth, had a 10-day contract on the table from the Atlanta Hawks.

At 24 and in blistering form, Cotton’s NBA interest was expected. His response, however, stunned everyone.

“I rang Bryce up. This is about 6.30 in the morning. Phone goes straight through to the message bank,” Gleeson said

“I thought, ‘OK, well, they’re organising his flights and he’s all good’.

“Tried a couple of times, couldn’t get hold of him. And then I drove into work around seven and then I see Bryce. I said, ‘Bryce, congratulations, man. I’m so proud of you’.”

“He said, ‘Coach, I’m not going. I’m going to stay here and I want to win a championship’.

“I’ve never won a championship before. After that moment, I still get goosebumps thinking about just what he sacrificed to stay in Perth to win that championship in 2017.

“It was one of the most unselfish things I have seen.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

He never returned to the NBA, and Australian basketball won out. MVPs, championships, scoring titles and a legacy that sits comfortably among the NBL’s all-time greats followed.

How different it could have been.

Read the full story >> Why NBL’s undisputed king isn’t in the NBA... and day he snubbed US in stunningly ‘unselfish’ act