University of Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball head coach Rick Barnes speaks with members of the media during the Nashville stop for University of Tennessee's 2025 Big Orange Caravan event Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at GEODIS Park. Alan Poizner/For The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee Lands Israeli Prospect Ethan Butler Burg

Originally posted on Tennessee Volunteers on SI
By Najeh Wilkins | Last updated Jul 18, 2025 2:00 PM ET

Ethan Butler Burg is officially a Tennessee Volunteer. The Vols go overseas to nab one of the best international prospects from Israel to join their team in the upcoming season. His story with the Vols continued to grow throughout the offseason. Butler Burg took a visit to Tennessee a few weeks ago

NEWS: Tennessee has landed a commitment from 22-year-old international prospect Ethan Burg, source told @Rivals.

The 6-3 combo guard from Israel has played professionally the last two seasons. He’s expected to have two-three years of eligibility for the Vols.… pic.twitter.com/pYjAhul0A4
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) July 18, 2025

The importance of the signing is huge because it fulfils the final roster spot for Tennessee as the 2025-2026 season approaches.

Butler Burg has played the last few seasons with Bnei Penlink Herzliya in Israel. In his first season, 2023-2024, he averaged 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. A big area he improved in the 2024-2025 season was his three point shooting. Butler Burg went from 28.6% to 37.6% from beyond the arc, improving nine percentage points. He also shot 80% from the charity stripe and improved his assists from 2.5 to 3.4. Speaking of that increase Butler Burg set a career high in assists (8) against Nest Ziona in a 93-83 victory. One of his best games of his career came against Hapoel Beer She, where he finished with a career-high 23 points on 64.3% shooting and knocked down four threes in an Israeli Winner League Game.

Tennessee was busy this offseason adding guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Amaree Abram out of the transfer portal to go along with their returning senior and dominant big man, Felix Okpara.

The biggest signing for the Volunteers was landed five-star prospect Nate Amen,t who is the highest ranked recruit in Tennessee history. They also brought in DeWayne Brown II and Amari Evans. Tennessee also added French prospect Clarence Massmaba back in April to the 2025 class. It’s not easy to replace Jahmai Mashack, Zakai Zeigler, and Cam Carr, who were big contributors last season for the Volunteers.

With the roster now complete, the Vols can look to building chemistry and camaraderie so they can take the next step in 2025.