'Top of the list': Cotton's special tribute to milestone man Wagstaff

Cotton, who has been involved in nearly half of Wagstaff’s games, will run out onto the court with his skipper for the 247th time against Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday.

The 38-year-old has a remarkable NBL CV, winning a record-equalling six titles, playing the most games ever by a Wildcat and captaining the club for several seasons.

He also won the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award in 2010, Sixth Man of the Year in 2012 and also represented Australia in two Commonwealth Games including gold at Gold Coast 2018 and silver at Birmingham 2022.

Four-time NBL MVP Cottons said that there was “no debate” that Wagstaff’s No.24 jersey should be hanging in the rafters one day, joining fellow club greats Damian Martin, Shawn Redhage, Mike Ellis, James Crawford, Ricky Grace, Andrew Vlahov, Scott Fisher and the late Scott Fenton.

“What Jesse has done throughout his career, what he’s meant to the club, what he’s meant to this city, it’s top of the list,” Cotton said.

“For him to be tied for most championships ever by a player in this league and he’s done it all with one club, there’s no way that No.24 is not up in the rafters.”

Cotton opened up about the pair’s on-court chemistry and credited Wagstaff for helping him excel.

“Chemistry is everything,” Cotton explained.

“The more you play with someone over the years, the more it’s almost like you start to develop that telepathy.

“Jesse knows what I’m going to do before I do it, I don’t have to tell him and vice versa.

“That just comes with time. For me, he’s done a great job in allowing me to excel in certain ways on the floor whenever he’s out there with me.”

Cotton said Wagstaff’s ability to knock down clutch three-pointers and draw important charges were just a couple of things he would be remembered for.

“He’s a guy that wears so many different hats so I don’t think there’s one particular moment that sums Jesse up,” Cotton said.

“I would say a staple of Jesse would be just hitting the really, really big three and having no emotion, or drawing a big charge that changes the whole dynamic of the game and he just gets back up as if it’s just another play.”

Cotton was delighted that his close teammate went around again for a 16th season on the way to breaking Ricky Grace’s long-standing games record of 482 games.

And he’s showing no signs of slowing down as he continually produces on the court.

“I know for sure, going into this season I really wanted to continue to see Jesse play,” he said.

“He’s not only still out there producing and he did a hell of a job last season, but knowing he was just a few games away from the record, selfishly I wanted him to go out there and do it.

“For him to put the cherry on top and reach the 500 milestone, that’s just impressive and shows the dedication and the success that he’s had for such a long time.”