Tennessee basketball signee Ethan Burg has made the Israeli national team and will compete for his country in the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket Championships. It’s quite the honor for Burg, who committed to Tennessee back in July after spending the last two years playing for the Bnei Herzeliya in the Ligat Winner League in Israel.
Burg making the Israeli national team will delay his arrival in Knoxville. Israel has five guaranteed group play games in the tournament, beginning on Aug. 28 and ending on Sept. 4. That means that Burg would arrive in Knoxville in early September at the earliest. That timeline could get further pushed back if Israel makes it out of pool play.
Rick Barnes stated earlier this month that Burg could arrive in Knoxville for the start of the fall semester on Aug. 18 but that they knew Burg was going through tryouts with the national team and his arrival could be delayed.
“He’s still with his national team going through tryouts,” Barnes said on the final day of summer workouts. “And we expect him to— we’ll see how far he can go with that. I think he’s got one more cut here in a week or so, and if he makes it past that, we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Burg is one of the youngest players on the Israeli national team. He’s currently 22 years old and turns 23 next month. It’s unclear how sizable his role with be on the Israeli team.
During the 2024-25 season, Burg averaged 11.1 points on 45% from the field, 38% from three-point range and 80% from the foul line. Playing in 24 games, the 6-foot-3 guard made 1.6 three pointers per game. He also averaged 3.4 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game.
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The 6-foot-3 guard posted similar numbers during the 2023-24 season, averaging 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He was less efficient shooting the ball, making 42% of his shots from the field and 29% from three-point range.
Burg is a combo guard who can play both point guard and shooting guard. However, there’s a clearer path to playing time at shooting guard at Tennessee next season.
Tennessee has brought in a handful of shooting guard options including Louisiana Tech transfer Amaree Abram, four-star freshman Amari Evans and French prep prospect Clarence Massamba. Freshman Troy Henderson is also a combo guard who impressed with his ability to score the basketball in summer workouts. The Vols also return rising sophomore combo guard Bishop Boswell.
Burg will compete with that group for playing time in Tennessee’s backcourt between Gillespie and five-star freshman wing Nate Ament.
The delayed arrival in Knoxville will make it more difficult for Burg to find his footing before the start of the season but it certainly won’t make it impossible. It also speaks to Burg’s ability that he made the national team as such a young player. Burg was one of the best Israeli born players in the Ligat Winner League last season.
Like Burg, Massamba was not in Knoxville this summer, but Tennessee expects the wing to arrive on campus shortly and be with the team when they begin fall workouts.
