A sad tale in the NBA is that plenty of players' careers end because of something as seemingly minor as inconvenient timing. Sadly, that happened to Utah Jazz alum Bryce Cotton, who detailed how the Jazz did something like that after his rookie season with the team.
Cotton played 15 games in his rookie year with the Jazz during the 2014-15 season. Apparently, their original plan was to give him more time next season, but because plans changed, Cotton never got the chance, and his NBA career was over not too long after that.
During his appearance on "Run Your Race," Cotton explained how the Jazz got his hopes up, only to dash them before his sophomore year with the team was set to begin. It started when former Jazz lottery pick Dante Exum tore his ACL during the 2015 NBA Offseason. Cotton detailed how that was supposed to impact his role in Utah.
"What they said to me was, 'We don't know if Dante's going to be ready by the time the season starts, so you're probably going to have to start some games next year.' So now it's not even a thought of, 'Are y'all bringing me back? This came out of y'all mouth, I'm gonna start games,'" Cotton said.
Cotton then revealed the Jazz move that changed course for him.
"Then, they sign Raul Neto out of the blue after my summer league. They guaranteed him for three years, and I'm like, 'Alright, this thing kind of weird? We're the same position?' And they were like, 'Nah, don't worry about that. We just want to get a closer look at him... but you're fine.'... I'm gettin' less and less reps in preseason, and... two games before the regular season's going to start, they had released me."
Neto went on to become a Jazz fan favorite, but it is a shame that it came at the cost of Cotton getting his shot in the pros with them, especially when he makes it sound like they promised him a fair shot.
It only gets worse...
Per Cotton, not only did the Jazz back out of their promise to him, but something else also happened during that time that rubbed salt on the wound.
"The most frustrating part about it was, apparently my agent at the time, he had told me New Orleans had asked about me, and they were like 'What are your plans with Bryce?' and (Utah said) 'Nah, we're not getting rid of him. We like him.'... So they had signed Nate Robinson and two days later, Utah released me."
It is horrible that this happened to Cotton because it hurt his chances of staying in the NBA. He went on to have brief stints with the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies during the 2015-16 season, but his NBA career ended after that.
His story is tragic, but also shows a tough reality about the NBA. When players sign with any team, they have full control of what they do with their players. Cotton definitely deserved better than how the Jazz treated that situation. Had things worked out, he could have stayed in the league longer, but the Jazz called the shots, and there sadly wasn't anything he could do about it.
Cotton isn't the first one to tell a story like this, and he definitely won't be the last.