![\"2026](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b706563f1cda06119b63d867ffbd74e0257c26de.jpg\")
Camera Icon2026 NBL MVP of the year Bryce Cotton. Credit: Asanka Ratnayake\/Getty Images for NBL<\/p>\nBryce Cotton will once again grace RAC Arena as part of the home side with the NBL superstar to make his Australian Boomers debut in Perth!<\/p>\n
Cotton will make his highly anticipated green and gold debut in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers against Guam on July 3 and Philippines on July 6.<\/p>\n
The six-time NBL MVP has long harboured ambitions of representing his adoptive home, but a long-running citizenship saga, including a four-year ban for spending 20 minutes without a visa due to a paperwork error, saw Cotton only become naturalised in September last year.<\/p>\n
However, another storming NBL season where he averaged a league high 25.7 points for Adelaide to claim another MVP was more than enough to earn the call-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresenting the Australian men\u2019s national basketball team for the first time is something I don\u2019t take lightly. Coming from where I come from, this opportunity means a lot to my family and me,\u201d Cotton. \u201cAustralia has embraced me from day one, and I\u2019m grateful for the chance to wear the green and gold alongside a great group of guys. I\u2019m excited, motivated, and ready to give everything I have for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boomers high performance manager, Jason Smith, said he was excited to see what Bryce can do in the green and gold.<\/p>\n
Camera Icon2026 NBL MVP of the year Bryce Cotton. Credit: Asanka Ratnayake\/Getty Images for NBL<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like he\u2019s a great cultural fit and obviously he has a dynamic playmaking ability which has been on display with his performances at the elite level over the last decade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think he\u2019ll suit the physicality of the international format, and the July window in Perth will give us a solid look at how he integrates into the FIBA game,\u201d added Smith.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a massive boon for Perth, who will once again get to embrace the former Perth Wildcat with RAC Arena hosting both fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cBryce Cotton has become a sporting icon in Western Australia, so it\u2019s incredibly exciting to see him return to Perth to make his Australian Boomers debut here at RAC Arena,\u201d WA Tourism Minister Reece Whitby said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese FIBA World Cup qualifiers are another fantastic addition to Western Australia\u2019s major events calendar, attracting visitors and showcasing Perth as a world-class destination for international sport \u2013 all contributing to the WA Government\u2019s economic diversification strategy to support local jobs and businesses\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryce Cotton will once again grace RAC Arena as part of the home side with the NBL superstar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6946,6164,335,261],"class_list":["post-10920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-basketball","tag-nbl","tag-perth","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}