American Cotton fell in love with Australia after arriving in early 2017 and has now lodged his papers to become a citizen.

The 28-year-old is contracted with the Wildcats for another two seasons and his Perth-based partner is pregnant.

When Cotton's citizenship goes through it would free up another import spot on the Wildcats' list.

And it would make Cotton eligible for Boomers selection.

Cotton has taken the NBL by storm since arriving at the Wildcats and has helped them to two championships since then.

Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson would love to see Cotton become an Australian.

"Hopefully in that time (remaining on his contract) we might be able to get him a bit of Aussie Cotton and go from there," Gleeson said.

"I think some people outside the court might be influencing him.

"His partner is pregnant. They are due for a baby later on this year.

"So that might be good to have a baby in Australia and become an Australian citizen."

Cotton's stay at the Wildcats was only meant to be for a matter of months after arriving late in the 2016-17 campaign.

But the star guard loved it so much he turned down bigger offers to stay at the NBL club.

"He had a big offer in Spain and I didn't think he'd be coming back," Gleeson said.

"It was more like, 'Thanks for that one year, we won a championship, good luck for your career'.

"And he said, 'Well hang on for a minute, I might want to come back'.

"I was like 'Ok, let's see if we can get it done'.

"He's a quality guy and humble."

Cotton is set to return to pre-season training next week as Perth ramp up their preparations for their championship defence.

Australian Associated Press