Following Utah Jazz’s success in recent seasons’ playoffs and the significant influence that players like Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell have had on the team, fans and management alike are hoping for the contribution of players like Alec Burks, who, while showing the true face on paper, don’t have the impact when it counts. The 12th overall candidate in the 2011 NBA Draft could argue for himself that his career has been handicapped by injury and that when he is fully fit, he is always a force to be reckoned with.
Who is Alec Burks?
Alec Burks was born on July 20, 1991, in Grandview, Missouri, the son of Steve and Dina Burks. Even at a very young age, Burks showed outstanding basketball talent, which always put him at the top of his peers. He attended Grandview High School, where he was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri as well as Kansas City Star and Metro Sports Player of the Year.
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6 Facts About The NBA Point/Shooting Guard
1. College Career
Alec Burks attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he played for the Buffalo men’s basketball team participating in the NCAA Division I Pac 12 conference. In his first year, he was named “Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year” as he also received the “Big 12 All-Rookie Team” award.
The baller was honored as All-Big 12 First Team in his second year before announcing that he was giving up his remaining college season to participate in the draft.
2. Alec Burks NBA Career
After his two-year college career, Alec Burks was awarded the 12th overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft by Utah Jazz. In his rookie season, Burks was unable to start a game, but this season he played in 59 games, all of which he played from the bench, averaging 7.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. In his second season, Burks averaged 7.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 64 games. The 2013-14 season proved to be a breakthrough for the player after he averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game in 78 games (12 starts). One of his most remarkable games of the season took place on January 13, 2014, when he scored a career highlight against the Denver Nuggets with 34 points.
Alec Burks seemed to have picked up where he left off when he was named a starter. He started the 2014-15 season as probably the best player of his team, but his season was shortened because he could only play 27 games due to injury. In these games, he averaged 13.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists.
In the 2015-16 season, Burks suffered another injury that caused him to miss 50 games. In the 31 games he played this year, he averaged 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. The Shooting Guard seemed to have run out of luck, as he suffered another injury in the early stages of the 2016-17 season, in which he averaged 6.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 42 games.
In the 2017-18 season, he returned to his early-career form, where he played a series of 20-point games. At the end of the season, he averaged 7.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 64 games. He then played 9 playoff games, averaging 9.1 points and 2.7 rebounds.
3. Injury History
The Grandview, Missouri-born basketball player’s struggle with injuries began in his fourth season in the NBA when he suffered a shoulder injury. The following season he suffered a fracture of the left fibula, which he tried to repair with surgery. After that, it was knee and ankle injuries that also required surgery, although he reported symptoms for several months before he fully recovered. Burks ended up playing in just under 100 games over three seasons because of these injuries, which he now hopes will be a thing of the past.
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4. Alec Burks Salary/Contract
Since 2014, Alec Burks has earned an average annual salary of $10.5 million, making him the fifth highest-paid player on the team from 2018. He began earning so much after he put a four-year contract extension for $42 million on paper to stay in jazz. Prior to that, the guard earned about $2.3 million a year when he signed a four-year $9.2 million contract that came into effect in 2011.
5. Body Measurements
Alec Burks has come a long way since his participation in the 2011 NBA Draft Combine, where his weight was registered at 193 pounds or 88 kg. More recently, the basketball player’s weight has been registered at 214 pounds or 97 kg. He further has a height of 6 feet 6 inches or 1.98 m with a wingspan of 6 feet 10 inches or 20.83 m.
6. Partner and Kids
Sometime in March 2017, Burks and his partner, Elyse Hart-Shelton welcomed a daughter whom they named Ashtyn. The proud parents are now engaged and hope to exchange their vows in the near future.