Bryce Cotton shocked the NBL world this off-season, leaving the Perth Wildcats in favour of signing with Adelaide.
The five-time MVP left his longtime club at the beginning of the off-season, and after plenty of speculation about him finding a home in another league, he instead opted to sign with the 36ers.
As the dust settles, Cotton has shed light on why exactly he made the switch, with his former club also offering their side of the story.
Bryce Cotton explains Perth Wildcats departure
There were murmerings throughout the NBL season that Cotton's time with the Perth Wildcats was drawing to a close, with many predicting he would land in Japan, or perhaps Europe.
But while his tenure in the West did end, he instead opted to sign with the Adelaide 36ers, in a stunning coup for the team.
Cotton has since opened up on the events that led to the signing, revealing that the Wildcats were the ones who initiated his departure, after giving him a short ultimatum.
"As much as people feel or say, 'Why did I leave the Wildcats?', I didn't technically leave," Cotton said during the first episode of his new show, the EasyDay podcast.
"The Wildcats parted ways with me because I wasn't willing to give an answer back in March.
At that point, I'm pretty sure the [NBL] grand final was still going on, Melbourne playing Illawarra.
"I had my agent tell them, 'Look, honestly, giving y'all within the next two or three days after I'd gotten to Puerto Rico, that s**t's not enough time for me to make a decision.'
"Like not being no cocky or no arrogant s**t, but I just had one of the greatest seasons in NBL history and I'm a free agent for the first time in forever. It couldn't have been a better time.
"I want to test free agency. So if you guys feel like you want to move on, I understand, but that is not enough time for me to make a decision."
According to the Perth Wildcats and team owner Mark Arena, the club made a strong effort to re-sign Cotton, but believed that the timeframe was necessary in order to build out the rest of the roster.
"We felt we certainly gave Bryce as much time as we could." Arena told NBL Now.
"I think we started by saying we’d talk at the end of the season. Then we extended it, and we extended it again. It happened many times.
"We didn’t have a set time frame on it, but at some point, you’re talking to other agents of other players, and what Bryce decides really impacts them, whether they’re going to come back or not.
"If we don’t start to move on them, we could be impacted. We didn’t want to end up in a position where we were waiting and waiting, and other players perhaps started looking or signing elsewhere. Then we’d be trying to build a roster without some of the key people we wanted, who had already signed elsewhere.
"But ultimately, our role is to build a team that can win a Championship. We felt, and still feel, that we had to move on and start building that team and that roster."
Cotton's move to Adelaide sees him link up with backcourt mate Dejan Vasiljevic, as well as newly re-signed import and former NBA Sixth-Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, in what is immediately one of the top title contending teams in the league.