OKC Thunder should unleash the beast in Deonte Burton
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Let’s get to the crux of this article: how many minutes can Deonte Burton realistically expect to get given the typical playing time his teammates receive?
Each of the OKC Thunder players in this comparison get the following minutes per game:
| MP | |
|---|---|
| Dennis Schroder | 28.9 |
| Terrance Ferguson | 25.5 |
| Markieff Morris | 17.2 |
| Patrick Patterson | 14.0 |
| Abdel Nader | 11.7 |
| Raymond Felton | 11.5 |
| Deonte Burton | 8.5 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/20/2019.
As expected, starter Terrance Ferguson and sixth man Dennis Schröder easily notch the most playing time at 25-plus minutes per game. Deonte Burton earns a distant 8.5 minutes while the others fall in between the two extremes.
Burton and fans shouldn’t have expected Burton to come in and steal loads of playing time from his teammates, but the writing is on the wall for Felton, Nader, and Patterson. Raymond ‘Dad Bod’ Felton is more of a comedy show at this point, and Patterson isn’t in a much better position having already seen a significant decrease in his playing time.
Veteran Markieff Morris likely doesn’t have much to worry about so long as he owns his role as the seventh man. The biggest competition for playing times lies in Nader vs. Burton, former Iowa State college teammates. Both players are of similar size with similar capabilities.
light. Related Story. The Journey of Deonte Burton and his arrival to the Thunder
Nader has the upper hand with increased chemistry with the team, but the difference in minutes allotted over these last 10 regular season games could come down to performance and production rather than familiarity with the team and Billy Donovan’s trust. There is no reason for Deonte Burton to be discouraged as his playing time could quickly ramp up to 14 minutes per game with strong, efficient performances.