'It felt like an eternity': Cotton reflects after injury return

The four-time NBL MVP starred in his comeback from a rib injury, scoring a game-high 33 points to lead Perth to an important home victory over South-East Melbourne Phoenix.

Cotton took little time to dust the cobwebs off after a long injury lay-off, piling on 16 points in the second quarter alone to turn the game on its head.

The Wildcats superstar said his gratitude was at an all-time high after getting back on the court.

"It felt good to just be back out there. It's been a month and it's felt like an eternity, but seeing how well the guys have played these past few weeks that I've been out, it was great to know that we still have that fight in us," Cotton said.

"It just felt so good to be out there on the floor. For me I live, sleep and breathe basketball, and being out those four weeks all I have is just my thoughts, especially those first couple of weeks when I was basically bedridden.

"My gratitude is at an all-time high just being out there on the floor, and playing well is a bonus, but I'm super happy just to be back out there."

Cotton was a game-time decision for Friday night after a couple of strong practice sessions during the week.

He ended up playing 32 minutes.

"Me and JR (coach John Rillie) had a talk and I told him based off when I started to have some practices that I was going to see how I felt, and if I felt I was good enough to play then he had to throw me in the fire with no minutes restrictions," Cotton said.

"If I'm ready, I'm ready and we have that trust with each other, and he let me rock out and if I was going to be out there, there was going to be no hesitating."

Cotton and the Wildcats are back in action against Brisbane Bullets at Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon from 1.30pm WST.