Education
Cotton attended Palo Verde High School in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Cotton attended Palo Verde High School in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
He played college basketball for the Providence Friars. In his senior season, Cotton averaged 23.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in a season where his team went 24-7 and made it to the state 4A semi-finals. Foreign his performances, Cotton earned first team All-City and first team All-State honors in 2010.
Despite his solid senior season and high-school career, Cotton was not evaluated by Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, Rivals, or Scout.
On September 2, 2010, it was announced that Cotton had been recruited to the Providence Friars. Cotton played in 32 games his freshman season, including one start, and averaged only 4 points.
The following season, Cotton was named a starter, saw his minutes more than double and his points per game improve to 14.3. In his junior season, Cotton was the Big East"s leading scorer, averaging 19.4 points per game.
Foreign his efforts, Cotton was named first team All-Big East.
Before his senior season Cotton was named preseason All-Big East by the conference"s coaches. lieutenant was announced on January 20 that Cotton was named Big East Player of the Week after averaging 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists in two wins over Saint John"s and Creighton. The Friars finished the season at 20-11 with a 10-8 conference mark which resulted in a 4 seed in the 2014 Big East Men"s Basketball Tournament.
This resulted in the Friars receiving an auto-bid to the national tournament, the first and only tournament appearance in Cotton"s career.
Despite putting up 36 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists, Cotton and the Friars lost their first round match-up against the North Carolina Tar Heels 77-79, ending Cotton"s college career. Cotton went undrafted in the 2014 National Basketball Association draft.
On July 7, 2014, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs and joined them for the 2014 National Basketball Association Summer League. On October 23, 2014, he was waived by the Spurs, and on November 1, 2014, he was acquired by the Austin Spurs as an affiliate player.
On February 4, 2015, he was named to the Futures All-Star team for the 2015 National Basketball Association Doctorate-League All-Star Game.
On February 24, 2015, Cotton signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz. On March 6, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Jazz. On March 16, he signed a multi-year deal with the Jazz.
October 20, 2015, he was waived by the Jazz.
On October 30, 2015, Cotton was reacquired by the Austin Spurs. On November 25, he signed with the Phoenix Suns.
Cotton failed to appear in a game for the Suns until December 30, making his first appearance for the team following injuries to Eric Bledsoe and Ronnie Price. In 21 minutes of action in his Suns" debut, he recorded two points, two rebounds and three steals in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
On January 7, 2016, he was waived by the Suns after appearing in three games.
On January 12, he returned to the Austin Spurs. He parted ways with Austin on January 25. Two days later, he signed with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.