Sixers point guard Trey Burke has been informed he’ll remain with the team through Tuesday’s salary guarantee deadline, tweets Keith Pompey of Philly.com. As a result, Burke’s one-year, minimum-salary contract will become fully guaranteed. He’ll earn $2,028,594, with a $1,620,564 cap charge.
Burke, 27, earned the Sixers’ final roster spot this past fall along with the team’s 14 players on guaranteed contracts. While he was in and out of the rotation earlier in the season, he has appeared in each of the 76ers’ last nine games, averaging 7.7 PPG on .583/.571/.833 shooting during that stretch.
It was just over three weeks ago that Burke’s father took to Instagram to call for the Sixers to trade his son due to a lack of playing time. The former first-round pick quickly issued a statement indicating he didn’t share his father’s opinions on the matter, and his emergence as a regular role player in recent weeks helped secure his roster spot.
Head coach Brett Brown said Tuesday that Burke has exceeded his expectations and will likely remain in the mix even after Matisse Thybulle gets healthy, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com.
As a result of Tuesday’s decision, the Sixers will have a full 15-man roster going forward. That could limit Philadelphia’s options at the trade deadline to some extent, but the club doesn’t have immediate tax concerns, so a player with a guaranteed salary could be cut if necessary.
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