Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #32 — Alec Burks

During his time with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.

And I’m ranking all 106 of them before a new season starts and he adds to the tally. Better get a move on.

Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.

#32 — Alec Burks

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Games: 48 (T-52nd out of 106)
Points per game: 16.1 (10th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 4.7 (T-18th out of 106)
Assists per game: 3.1 (13th out of 106)

Assuming Steph Curry stays healthy this year, the Golden State Warriors should return to the playoffs, which means the bizarre 15-50 record in the 2019-20 season will be just a tiny interruption in a long string of postseason appearances, and the players and narratives of the season will be forgotten.

Which means in a decade or so, we might not really remember Alec Burks, because we will have scrubbed the season from our memory.

Burks was one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise dismal year. He was originally slated to be an off-the-bench option for a playoff team, but when Curry broke his hand and D’Angelo Russell was traded, he became a heavy-minutes option tasked with carrying a big load. He did as well as one could have expected, putting up big per-game stats with average efficiency. He was asked to do way too much, and he came through.

The actual impact wasn’t as gaudy as the stat totals. He wasn’t good defensively, though he wasn’t a massive liability, either. And despite the point and assist totals, the offense wasn’t actually all that much better with him on the court.

That said, I don’t know that anyone would be able to thrive on that talent-depleted team. Burks deserves a lot of credit for trying as hard as he did to keep the team afloat.

It would’ve been great to see how he could have done in the role he was brought in to play. Funnily enough, between their respective injuries, Burks and Curry only actually played together for one game.

Still, he earns a spot as Curry’s 32nd-best teammate.