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JAPAN's B-League appears to have beaten the 36ers to the punch, with Nagasaki now front-runner to secure multiple NBL championship coach Dean Vickerman and the Sixers back hoping to reunite superstar guard Bryce Cotton with his former Perth Wildcats mentor Trevor Gleeson.

Since 2024, Gleeson has been coaching the Chiba Jets in Japan but he has been high on Adelaide's wish list.

Mike Wells yesterday announcing he would not continue as coach of the 36ers has again made Gleeson a target, with Cotton's presence in Adelaide a major lure.

Three of Gleeson's five championships at Perth were with Cotton as his key player.

The 36ers took Sydney to five games for the championship last season and went within a missed lay-up of winning the club's first title since 2002.

Speculation Gleeson may emerge at Melbourne United now Vickerman has left the club with which he won two of his three NBL championships, appears a less likely option.

Gleeson coached at Melbourne in 2011 in its previous iteration as the Tigers but was released one year into a three-year deal.

He previously coached the Townsville Crocodiles from 2006-2011 and since departing Perth in 2021, has been an NBA assistant at Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks.

Luring Gleeson home would be quite the coup for the 36ers, but then no-one expected the club to sign Cotton last year either.