Rockets G League: Vipers Name Kevin Burleson As Head Coach

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston Rockets' G League affiliate team, announced Kevin Burleson as head coach.

Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

HOUSTON — The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the NBA G League Affiliate of the Houston Rockets, announced on Wednesday the hiring of Kevin Burleson as head coach. Burleson will become the ninth coach in franchise history at the start of the 2022-23 season.

"I am extremely excited and honored to begin my very first NBA Head coaching career at the G League level with the RGV Vipers," Burleson said. "I believe the sky is the limit, I am not placing a ceiling on this awesome opportunity before me."

After a 10-year playing career that featured a brief 39 games with the Charlotte Bobcats, Burleson began coaching in 2014 as a player development coach with the Rockets.

Burleson held the role for four seasons before joining the Minnesota Timberwolves organization. In 2017, Burleson served as the associate head coach of the NBA G League team, the Iowa Wolves.

In 2019, the Timberwolves hired Burleson to take the helm as the team's player development coach. During the 2022 NBA Summer League tournament in Las Vegas, Burleson served as the Timberwolves coach. 

Burleson had a short coaching stint with the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2018-2019 season.

"We’re incredibly excited to have Coach Burleson on board," Vipers general manager Travis Stockbridge said. "He’s a terrific basketball mind with an impressive resume as both a player and a coach. Having known Kevin since the start of his coaching career, I’m proud of how far he’s come and thrilled that he’ll be taking his next step with the Vipers."

Burleson finished his career as a player in 2013 after spending a season with the Egyptian team Al-Ittihad Alexandria. From 2009-10 he played in Romania with the Liga Nationala team CSU Ploiesti, also known as CSU Asesoft. He appeared in 40 games, where he averaged 8.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals.

Burleson is taking over Mahmoud Abdelfattah's coaching duties, who left the Vipers in June to join coach Stephen Silas' staff in Houston.

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