OKC Thunder recall Deonte Burton from the G-League
The OKC Thunder have ended Deonte Burton’s time in purgatory by recalling him from the OKC Blue.
When the OKC Thunder announced that Deonte Burton had been suspended, they did not stop the hits as they also announced that Burton had been assigned to their G-League affiliate the OKC Blue.
His allocation came at a very timely manner for the Blue as Luguentz Dort had been called up to the varsity squad and they were hit by injury. They were without Myke Henry, Kevin Hervey, and Markel Brown. Not having four key members of your squad makes a massive difference.
However, this still felt like a further punishment for the altercation Burton reportedly had with Dennis Schroder in the Thunder locker room. Fortunately, Burton responded with professionalism and had some really good games with the Blue.
Deonte Burton Recalled From Oklahoma City Bluehttps://t.co/CVCnZUOTXT pic.twitter.com/1ELB236UQ8
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 19, 2019
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Burton has now played six games with the Blue, averaging 16.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 36.0 minutes per game. In a way, this was actually a good thing for Burton.
He has appeared in just 12 games for the OKC Thunder this season, averaging 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. He has averaged just 8.4 minutes per contest despite the activity that he brings to the court whenever he plays.
The extra playing time that Burton was offered in the G-League will help him get back into the systems run by the Thunder as they are very similar. Burton had the offense run through him when playing for the Blue, meaning that he was able to understand the systems better.
Now that the Blue have Henry and Hervey back, Burton is once again freed up to come back to the varsity squad with some decent basketball under his belt for the first time this season.
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Let us hope that he brings that professionalism and extra playing time back to the OKC Thunder and both parties benefit from it.