Adelaide 36ers star Bryce Cotton is one step closer to history after being rewarded for his stellar season, winning his sixth Andrew Gaze MVP Trophy – presented by Hungry Jack\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Cotton\u2019s sixth MVP is the second-most by an individual, with only Gaze ahead of him with seven. <\/p>\n
Cotton won MVPs in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, and now, 2026.<\/p>\n
After shifting from the Perth Wildcats to Adelaide in the off-season, Cotton helped the 36ers finish second on the ladder, with a 23-10 record.<\/p>\n
In 32 games, Cotton averaged 25.7 points (League-leader), 7.6 assists (league-leader and career-high), 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals (career-high).<\/p>\n
He polled 96 votes, edging out fellow finalist Kendric Davis, from the Sydney Kings, by just two votes, on 94.<\/p>\n
After leading the Kings to the regular-season championship, Brian Goorjian took out the Lindsay Gaze Trophy for Coach of the Year, his seventh.<\/p>\n
South East Melbourne stars Nathan Sobey and John Brown III headlined the All-NBL First Team, alongside Cotton and Davis, as well as Perth\u2019s Kristian Doolittle.<\/p>\n
A star-studded All-NBL Second Team featured Cairns\u2019 Jack McVeigh, New Zealand\u2019s Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Sydney\u2019s Xavier Cooks, Tasmania\u2019s Bryce Hamilton and Adelaide\u2019s Zylan Cheatham.<\/p>\n
Brown III had a night to remember, also winning the Damian Martin Defensive Player of the Year, while teammate Angus Glover claimed the Sixth Man of the Year.<\/p>\n
Adelaide\u2019s Flynn Cameron took out the hotly contested Most Improved Player, with Sam Mennenga winning the Step One Next Generation award.<\/p>\n
Michael Aylen won Referee of the Year presented by Europcar for the 11th time, and Melbourne\u2019s Malith Machar was recognised for his efforts in the community were honoured with the Gametime by Kmart award.<\/p>\n
Andrew Gaze Trophy for Most Valuable Player<\/p>\n
Bryce Cotton (Adelaide 36ers) – 96 votes
Kendric Davis (Sydney Kings) – 94 votes
Kristian Doolittle (Perth Wildcats) and Nathan Sobey (South East Melbourne Phoenix) – 59 votes<\/p>\n
Lindsay Gaze Trophy for Coach of the Year<\/p>\n
Brian Goorjian (Sydney Kings) – 56 votes
Josh King (South East Melbourne Phoenix) \u2013 48 votes
Mike Wells (Adelaide 36ers), John Rillie (Perth Wildcats) and Scott Roth (Tasmania JackJumpers) – 23 votes<\/p>\n
Most Improved Player presented by AAMI<\/p>\n
Flynn Cameron (Adelaide 36ers) – 51 votes
Makuach Maluach (Sydney Kings)\u00a0 – 39 votes
Sam Mennenga (New Zealand Breakers)\u00a0 – 35 votes<\/p>\n
Best Sixth Man<\/p>\n
Angus Glover (South East Melbourne Phoenix) – 64 votes
Kouat Noi (Sydney Kings)\u00a0 – 44 votes
Majok Deng (Tasmania JackJumpers)\u00a0 33 votes<\/p>\n
Damian Martin Trophy for the Best Defensive Player<\/p>\n
John Brown III (South East Melbourne Phoenix) – 75 votes
Will Magnay (Tasmania JackJumpers)\u00a0 – 27 votes
Kristian Doolittle (Perth Wildcats) – 24 votes<\/p>\n
Step One Next Generation Award<\/p>\n
Sam Mennenga (New Zealand Breakers) – 65 votes
Karim Lopez (New Zealand Breakers)\u00a0 – 43 votes
Owen Foxwell (South East Melbourne Phoenix) – 38 votes<\/p>\n
All-NBL First Team<\/p>\n
Bryce Cotton (Adelaide 36ers) – 54 votes
Kendric Davis (Sydney Kings)\u00a0 – 52 votes
Nathan Sobey (South East Melbourne Phoenix)\u00a0 – 52 votes
Kristian Doolittle (Perth Wildcats) – 51 votes
John Brown III (South East Melbourne Phoenix) – 36 votes<\/p>\n
All-NBL Second Team<\/p>\n
Jack McVeigh (Cairns Taipans)\u00a0 – 31 votes
Parker Jackson-Cartwright (New Zealand Breakers)\u00a0 – 30 votes
Xavier Cooks (Sydney Kings)\u00a0 – 30 votes
Bryce Hamilton (Tasmania JackJumpers) – 28 votes
Zylan Cheatham (Adelaide 36ers)\u00a0 \u2013 23 votes<\/p>\n
Referee of the Year presented by Europcar<\/p>\n
Michael Aylen<\/p>\n
Gametime by Kmart Award<\/p>\n
Malith Machar (Melbourne United)<\/p>\n
Executive of the Year<\/p>\n
Nic Barbato (Adelaide 36ers)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fans\u2019 MVP presented by Chemist Warehouse<\/p>\n
Bryce Cotton (Adelaide 36ers)<\/p>\n
Three-Pointer of the Year presented by Mitsubishi Motors Australia<\/p>\n
Bryce Cotton (Adelaide 36ers) vs New Zealand Breakers (Round 18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adelaide 36ers star Bryce Cotton is one step closer to history after being rewarded for his stellar season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-499648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}