KTP BASKET (Finland)
Ht: 6'8" (201cm)  Wt: 295lbs. (134kg)  DOB: 11/2/1990
Hometown: Soboba, California
College: Oregon State University

Years Pro: 

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Joe Burton is a 6’8”, 295lb big man with seven professional seasons under his belt and enters his first season with KTP Basket in Finland.

 

Last season, Joe played the majority of the season in the France-Jeep Elite ProA league with Roanne as well as a short stint with Souffel in the France-ProB league. Overall, Joe has played four career seasons in France as well one season respectively in Japan, Holland and Denmark, now adding Finland to that list.

 

Joe is a strong, large bodied forward with good inside-outside skills and prides himself on his intensity and passion for the game. Joe has averaged double digit scoring in six of his seven professional seasons in addition to three seasons averaging double digits in rebounding and five averaging 9+ rebounds per game. Joe has never shot worse than 52% from the floor, shooting a career high 59% playing for ALM Evreux Basket in France in 2015-2016. He scored a career 21.79 points per game in his second professional season in 2013-2014 while playing for the Aalborg Vikings in Denmark.

 

Throughout his career, Joe has been recognized for his many achievements in each of the leagues he has played in. In 2014, Joe was named to the Eurobasket.com All-Danish Ligaen 1st Team as well as the Eurobasket.com Danish Ligaen All-Imports Team. In 2016, Joe was respectively named the Eurobasket.com All-French Pro B, Player, Center and Import Player of the Year in addition to making the French ProB First Team as well as to the French ProB All-Imports Team. Joe was once again named to the All-French ProB First Team and French ProB All-Imports Team in 2017 by Eurobasket.com in addition to being named the All-French ProB Forward of the Year. Joe led his team to the French ProB Leaders Cup Championship in 2017, which was his first professional championship victory. Joe was named to the Asia-Basket.com All-Japanese B League D2 Honorable Mention in 2018. Joe has been named Player of the Week three times throughout his career, all three coming in France ProB in both 2017 (2x) and 2019 (1x).

 

Joe played his collegiate basketball at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. While at Oregon State, Joe played in 130 games, starting 73 of them. His best season came during his senior year in 2012-2013 where he averaged a career high in games started (31), minutes (28.6), points (10.97), rebounds (6.44), offensive rebounds (2.38), and assists (3.41). Joe left Oregon State as the only player in program history with at least 1,000+ career points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. He is 39th in program history in scoring (1,009), and fifth in rebounds (730). His 315 career assists are the most by a non-guard in program history.

 

While playing at Oregon State, Joe was one of four total Native American players in Division I and was the first Native American to earn a scholarship in the Pac-12 since 1978 and just the second Native American to play basketball at Oregon State (Ron Jones, 1972-74). Finally, Joe helped start the Nike N7 game in 2009, which supports sports programs in Native American and Aboriginal communities.

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Joe was born in November, 1990 on the Soboba Indian reservation in Soboba, California. He is the son of Dondi Silvas Nichols and Kendall Nichols. Joe graduated from West Valley High School in Helmet, California as the Number 130 overall recruit by Rivals.com. As a Senior, Joe averaged 15 points and 18 rebounds per game. During his Junior year, Joe led West Valley to the CIF Section Division III-A championship and was an All-League selection. He holds the record for points (33) and rebounds (36) in a single game, which he set during his Junior year. He was the first player in West Valley High School basketball history to score a ‘quadruple-double’ registering 20 points, 20 rebounds, 10 blocks and 10 assists in a game. He was named Team MVP all four years he was there.

 

Joe majored in Ethnic Studies at Oregon State upon graduation in 2013.