Less is more: 40-minute era over for Bryce

With five years of experience together, few coaches know six-time MVP Bryce Cotton better than Trevor Gleeson.

From the Hungry Jack’s NBL17 to the NBL21 Seasons, that duo delivered three championships to the Perth Wildcats, among plenty of other accolades.

While still months away from the start of the tip-off of the 2026-27 campaign, Gleeson is already developing a plan for how to use his star, who led the League in minutes played (38.38) last season.

“The first thing I said [to him is] we’re not going to play you 40 minutes,” Gleeson said on NBL Now.

“We need the team to have a little bit of an identity without you on the floor, which is something we did in Perth.

“We had the Greg Hire types come in with that second unit and really change the game.

“I just found that when your rockstar has a bad game or maybe gets injured, you’ve got to have the whole team ready to step up to the plate, and that’s something I want to develop in Adelaide.

“He will still be the focal point, he’ll still shoot the most and we’ll still run things through him, but I certainly don’t think he’ll be playing 40 minutes a game.”

Cotton’s league-leading minutes played per game were almost two more than second-placed Jack McVeigh (36.25) from Cairns, and nearly four minutes a game more than he played in NBL25 (34:54).

Joining Cotton on Gleeson’s 36ers next season are Zylan Cheatham, Flynn Cameron, Ben Griscti, Isaac Humphries, Bul Kuol, Nick Rakocevic, Keanu Rasmussen and Isaac White.