Cotton wins fourth Andrew Gaze Trophy as NBL's best

Only Australian basketball great Andrew Gaze, a seven-time winner, has won the competition’s most prestigious award more than the Perth Wildcats superstar.

He won with a staggering 118 votes, more than double runner-up Chris Goulding of Melbourne United with 53, while New Zealand Breaker Parker Jackson-Cartwright was third on 50.

It was a massive night for Cotton, who also took out the Fans MVP Award and earned All-NBL First-Team selection alongside Anthony Lamb (New Zealand Breakers), Goulding, Gary Clark (Illawarra Hawks) and Jackson-Cartwright.

The 31-year-old recovered from a slow start to the season to average a competition-high 23.1 points and 4.3 assists per game, helping drag the Wildcats from a 2-5 record to second spot on the NBL ladder.

Cotton’s NBL24 campaign season included six matches where he scored more than 30 points, highlighted by a 41-point game against reigning champs Sydney at RAC Arena in December.

"Somebody stole my jersey and played for the Wildcats for the first seven games but we got that sorted out," Cotton joked during his acceptance speech.

"We stuck together as a team the whole way and it's been a group effort. JR (John Rillie) has been a hell of a coach for us all year and it's been fun."

Wildcats head coach John Rillie and young gun Alex Sarr were nominated for the Coach of the Year and Next Generation awards respectively, won by Melbourne United’s Dean Vickerman and Illawarra captain Sam Froling.

NBL Awards winners

Andrew Gaze Most Valuable Player 

Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats) 

Lindsay Gaze Coach of the Year: Dean Vickerman (Melbourne United)  

Most Improved Player: Sean Macdonald (Tasmania JackJumpers)

Best Sixth Man: Ian Clark (Melbourne United)

Damian Martin of the Defensive Player of the Year: Shea Ili (Melbourne United)

Next Generation: Sam Froling (Illawarra)

NBL First Team: Anthony Lamb (New Zealand Breakers), Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats),
Chris Goulding (Melbourne United), Gary Clark (Illawarra Hawks), Parker Jackson-Cartwright (New Zealand Breakers) 

NBL Second Team: Jack McVeigh (Tasmania JackJumpers), Jo Lual Acuil Jr (Melbourne United), Milton Doyle (Tasmania JackJumpers), Mitch Creek (South East Melbourne Phoenix), Nathan Sobey (Brisbane Bullets) 

Referee of the Year: Vaughan Mayberry

Gametime by Kmart: Sunday Dech (Adelaide 36ers) 

Executive of the Year: Nick Truelson (Melbourne United) 

Fans MVP: Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats)