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Sep
Player Prices
Cotton takes 23.7% of your cap. There's a wrinkle
Sydney Kings guard Kendric Davis battles Adelaide 36ers star Bryce Cotton for possession during their Round 18 NBL clash at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on January 25, 2026. Photo: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images
Highlights
Cotton is the highest scoring player in the game, and his opening ten NBL27 fixtures are brutal.
- Bryce Cotton costs $473,900, or 23.7 per cent of the $2 million cap
- He averaged 53.7 against the bottom four and 37.0 against the Kings
- Adelaide have double-headers in Rounds 2, 3, 4 and 7
- Ultimate Guide to Learning How to Play SuperCoach NBL
Six-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton ($473,900) is the most expensive player in SuperCoach NBL.
Cotton, 33, represents 23.7% of the total $2M salary cap, coming off an elite average base of 45.7 SuperCoach points per game in NBL26.
The Adelaide 36ers have double-headers in Round 2, Round 3, Round 4 and Round 7, and it means the highest scoring SuperCoach star – with the captain's armband – has the opportunity to put up big "double-up" numbers early.
But of course there is a wrinkle; there is always a wrinkle.
The naturalised Australian point guard is a flat-track bully – and chasing Andrew Gaze's record of seven MVP awards.
Against the bottom four teams in NBL26, Cotton averaged 53.7 points; against the Top 6, it was 43.8, and versus the Kings, 37.0.
In NBL27, five of his first 10 are against NBL26's better defences, three of the 10 against the top three and seven of the 10 away. That's a tough stretch based on NBL26 statistics.
Obviously, every NBL club has retooled its roster, including Melbourne United, which has brought in NBA veteran Cole Anthony ($300,000) to play alongside former Defensive Player of the Year Shea Ili ($175,300). If his thunderous dunk for the New Zealand Tall Blacks a couple of days ago is any indication, he's injury-free and ready to wreak havoc on the defensive side of the ball.
The 36ers face United in Melbourne in the first game of the season, with both Cotton and Cole going at each other with something to prove.
SuperCoach NBL coaches have a decision to make – build around Cotton; he must be the captain in those double-header rounds – or go slightly cheaper to build more flexibility into the rest of the roster.
Five of the top 10 most expensive players are guards: Cotton; Kendric Davis ($436,000); Parker Jackson-Cartwright ($405,200); Nathan Sobey ($379,600) and William Hickey ($331,600). There are options, including Cole at $300,000 as a rookie import – $173,900 cheaper than Cotton.
SuperCoach NBL Classic has just launched, and already there are tough choices, bordering on headaches, needing to be made.
Welcome to the party, pals.
SuperCoach NBL27 — Top 25 Most Expensive Players
| 1 | Bryce Cotton | ADL | G | $473,900 | 32 | 45.7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Kendric Davis | SYD | G | $436,000 | 33 | 42.0 |
| 3 | Parker Jackson-Cartwright | NZL | G | $405,200 | 33 | 39.1 |
| 4 | Nathan Sobey | SEM | G | $379,600 | 32 | 36.6 |
| 5 | Jack McVeigh | CNS | F | $349,800 | 29 | 33.7 |
| 6 | Zylan Cheatham | ADL | F | $339,500 | 33 | 32.7 |
| 7 | Tyrell Harrison | BRI | C | $336,100 | 25 | 32.4 |
| 8 | William Hickey | ILL | G | $331,600 | 27 | 32.0 |
| 9 | Jo Lual-Acuil Jr | PER | C | $318,100 | 33 | 30.7 |
| 10 | Kristian Doolittle | PER | F | $317,500 | 33 | 30.6 |
| 11 | Josh Bannan | TAS | F | $317,500 | 33 | 30.6 |
| 12 | Xavier Cooks | SYD | F | $308,000 | 29 | 29.7 |
| 13 | Taran Armstrong | TAS | G | $304,700 | — | — |
| 14 | Sam Mennenga | NZL | F | $303,100 | 27 | 29.2 |
| 15 | Keanu Pinder | CNS | F | $300,000 | — | — |
| 16 | Cole Anthony | MEL | G | $300,000 | — | — |
| 17 | Joe Ingles | MEL | F | $300,000 | — | — |
| 18 | Bryce Hamilton | TAS | F | $293,100 | 27 | 28.3 |
| 19 | Luke Travers | MEL | G | $292,900 | — | — |
| 20 | Torrey Craig | SYD | F | $290,400 | 8 | 28.0 |
| 21 | Sam Waardenburg | MEL | F | $277,500 | 8 | 26.8 |
| 22 | Nate Hinton | BRI | G | $277,000 | — | — |
| 23 | Arnas Velicka | BRI | G | $277,000 | — | — |
| 24 | Jaylin Williams | BRI | F | $277,000 | — | — |
| 25 | Jaylon Brown | CNS | G | $277,000 | — | — |
At launch there is no such thing as a bargain. All 61 players who averaged 10 or more are priced at exactly the same rate, 9.64 points per $100,000 — the most expensive player in the game and a 10-a-game rotation piece are charged identically per point. Value only appears once a player’s form pulls away from his price, which is why a "best value" list on day one is just the price list reordered.
The exceptions are at the bottom, not the top. Below an average of 10 the $58,500 floor stops a player being priced as cheaply as his output, so the cheapest players cost more per point than anyone else, not less.
An em dash is not a zero. 48 of the 138 players have no prior figures at all and sit on flat starting prices; the file does not say which season the games and averages describe.
Four things are wrong with the source file, and one of them touches this table. Kelan Martin is absent from it entirely, so if he is priced above $277,000 this 25 is missing a name. Tyler Harvey is coded as an import when he is naturalised, Keli Leaupepe is priced and pickable while out for the season, and Malique Lewis carries no import flag — none of those three is in this 25, but because two of the four are import-coding errors, no import or status column is shown here at all.
The workbook is marked draft and prices move once the season starts, so this is a snapshot dated August 28, 2026.
