Know Your Team: Murphy Burnatowski

St. John's Edge

6'7

Forward

From Kitchener, Ontario

A late addition to their roster, the St. John's Edge welcome one of Canada's unsung basketball stars in Murphy Burnatowski, a highly experience journeyman forward.

Burnatowski learned his game at the Canadian National Development Academy, where he was named Canada's third best youth power forward by HoopstarsCanada.com. He was named to the Canadian Under-18 team, which won third place at the 2008 Americas Championship.

The following year, he represented Canada at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand, alongside future NBA stars Kelly Olynyk, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph. After a ten-point win over Argentina in second group stage, the team won a place in the knockout round, where they lost to the USA. A 82-74 win over France secured Canada seventh place.

Following on from this, Burnatowski joined the Maine Black Bears. Making 25 starts for the team, he was named to the America East Rookie Team. In 2011, he transferred to the Colgate Raiders. In his first season for his new team, he was the leading scorer, stealer and field shooter and won this first of his two Patriot League honours.

Part-way through his tenure with Colgate, Murphy once again represented Canada, this time at the 2013 Universiade in Russia. In the tournament, Canada topped their group - which also contained the USA and Australia - and reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Russia. A subsequent 87-74 loss to Serbia also meant they missed out on the bronze medal.

Burnatowski turned professional in 2014 and played his first season with Czech team Usti nad Labem and Wroclaw in Poland. The following season he signed with Swiss team Basel, for whom he averaged 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in thirty games. He subsequently joined APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus, appearing for the team in both the Cypriot league and the FIBA Europe Cup competition. He finished with 13.1 points per game on the entire season.

In 2017, Burnatowski was once again called up to the national team for the AmeriCup in Argentina, but Canada bowed out at the group stage with a 1-2 record. He then returned to Switzerland and played 37 games for Fribourg. Averaging 14.2 points per game and helped lift the team to a league-leading 20-2 record and a subsequent championship after a five-game finals win over Geneva.

Burnatowksi began the 2018-19 season with the Saigon Heat in Vietnam, whom he captained and averaged 19.6 points and 6.7 rebounds, but left the team midway through the season. More than a decade on after he first played the game, he finally made his debut on home soil, becoming a member of the St. John's Edge.