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Justin Burrell returns to Japan with the Chiba Jets

The 2011 forward leaves France to return to a Japanese league.

By Norman Rose
Justin Edmonds

After a summer playing in The Basketball Tournament with Barstool Sports, popping up in a number of summer tourneys and Instagramming his way around his home city, Justin Burrell is back to the money-earning international basketball grind.

Burrell, a muscular 6'9" forward, is moving to the Chiba Jets of the Japanese NBL league. The move was announced in July by the Japan Times, but Burrell tweeted that his summer stateside is over this morning.

Justin Burrell, who was a main starter for St. John's in his first two years and then became a standout sixth man and a strong defensive rebounder, spent the past two years in France. Last season, with Cholet Basket in France's highest division, Burrell averaged seven points and four rebounds in 18 minutes per game.

But Burrell got his start in Japan with the Yokohama B-Corsairs, a new team in a new Japanese league then. The current Chiba coach, Reggie Geary, was Justin Burrell's coach in his first Japanese season when Burrell won the league's MVP award.

Burrell has also played with Chalons Reims in France.

The Jets attempted to acquire Burrell in November, according to the Japan Times, but Burrell finished his season in France. The Chiba Jets, meanwhile, finished at the bottom of the table in their division of the Japanese NBL, going 18-35 in the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs.

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