Willie Burton

Willie Burton
Born	(1968-05-26) May 26, 1968 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Professional basketball player (retired)
Years active	1990–1999 (NBA), later in Europe

Willie Ricardo Burton (born May 26, 1968) is a retired American professional basketball athlete who was the ninth overall pick by the Miami Heat in the 1990 NBA draft, coming from the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. His NBA tenure spanned from 1990 to 1999, during which he played for several teams and later extended his career playing professionally across Europe.

A native of Detroit, Burton attended Saint Martin De Porres High School. He is a father to three children with Carla Burton.

High school career

During his time at Saint Martin De Porres High School, Burton contributed to the team's victories in the Michigan Class C state championships in both 1985 and 1986. His high school achievements led to his induction into the Detroit Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 1990.

College career

While playing for the University of Minnesota, Burton was instrumental in guiding the team to the Sweet Sixteen round in 1989 and advancing further to the Elite Eight in 1990. He concluded his collegiate career as the school's second-leading scorer with a total of 1,800 points. In 1990, Burton received first-team All-Big Ten recognition and was honored as team MVP for three straight seasons from 1988 through 1990. His legacy was cemented with an induction into the University of Minnesota Hall of Fame in 2013, and his jersey number 34 was officially retired in 2020.

Professional career

Selected ninth overall by the Miami Heat in the 1990 NBA draft, Burton earned a spot on the Second-Team All-Rookie squad by averaging 12 points per game during his first season. A highlight of his professional career includes an extraordinary performance on December 13, 1994, when he scored 53 points for the Philadelphia 76ers against Miami, accomplishing this feat on just 19 field goal attempts—ranking among the most efficient 50-point games ever recorded in NBA history.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"|1990 | style="text-align:left;"|Miami | 76 || 26 || 25.4 || .441 || .133 || .782 || 3.4 || 1.4 || 0.9 || 0.3 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1991 | style="text-align:left;"|Miami | 68 || 50 || 23.3 || .450 || .400 || .800 || 3.6 || 1.8 || 0.7 || 0.5 || 11.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1992 | style="text-align:left;"|Miami | 26 || 8 || 17.3 || .383 || .333 || .717 || 2.7 || 0.6 || 0.5 || 0.6 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1993 | style="text-align:left;"|Miami | 53 || 1 || 13.2 || .438 || .200 || .759 || 2.6 || 0.7 || 0.3 || 0.4 || 7.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1994 | style="text-align:left;"|Philadelphia | 53 || 31 || 29.5 || .401 || .385 || .824 || 3.1 || 1.8 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 15.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1996 | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 24 || 2 || 15.8 || .336 || .283 || .838 || 1.7 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 6.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1997 | style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | 13 || 0 || 3.3 || .381 || .333 || .667 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 0.2||0.2||2.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1998 | style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte |3||0||6.0||.143||.000||.500||2.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||1.3 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |316||118||21.1||.424||.345||.786||2.9||1.2||0.6||0.4||10.3

Playoffs

|- |style="text-align:left;"|1994 |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |2||0||5.5||.250||.000||–||0.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||1.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center" colspan="2"| Career |2||0||5.5||.250||.000||–||0.0||0.0||0.0||0..00||1..00