DeQuan Jones’ leg injury against the TNT Tropang 5G left the NLEX Road Warriors with a huge hole to fill, and coach Jimmy Alapag didn’t have to look far for someone he trusts to fill it. He turned to Deonte Burton for it.
The Road Warriors have signed Burton as their new import for the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup, bringing in a player Alapag already knows well from their time together stateside. The 32-year-old Milwaukee native previously played under Alapag with the Stockton Kings in the NBA G League and crossed paths with him again in Sacramento, giving NLEX a replacement import who arrives with a real working relationship already in place rather than a complete unknown.
Burton also brings undeniable talent, as he posted per-game averages of 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in his G League career.
NLEX Moves Fast to Sign Deonte Burton
The timeline behind the move says plenty about the urgency. Jones went down against TNT, and NLEX had to play its very next game—a 112-110 loss to the Converge FiberXers on Friday, August 14—with an all-Filipino lineup. Burton’s signing came in the immediate aftermath of that game.
The Alapag-Burton connection dates back a few years. Alapag worked as an assistant coach with Stockton from 2021 to 2023 before moving to Sacramento as a player development coach in 2023. Burton, for his part, played for Stockton during the 2022–23 season before earning a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings. This only means their paths overlapped in both stops.
NLEX heads into the league break sitting at 7-2, tied with the San Miguel Beermen atop Group A. That record masks a bit of a wobble lately, though. After opening the Governors’ Cup with a franchise-best six straight wins, the Road Warriors have now dropped two of their last three, with Jones’ injury adding a fresh complication just as the break arrives.
But, with the Deonte Burton in town and a long break to intergrate him, NLEX will be looking to regroup and recapture that early magic for the stretch run.
