Alec Burks Agreed to Not Debut for Sixers on Sunday Night vs. Bulls

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- An already frustrated fan base was growing even more distraught on Sunday afternoon as the Philadelphia 76ers' latest trade was taking quite some time to go through. This past Thursday, Sixers' General Manager Elton Brand locked in a late-night, early morning trade, depending on which coast you were on.

The Sixers decided to send three second-round picks to Golden State for two veteran reserves in Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III. When the deal went through, the Sixers had a game against Milwaukee hours later. At that point, it was common knowledge the two Warriors' trade chips weren't going to arrive to their new team just yet.

Friday's matchup wasn't ruled out for Burks and Robinson right away, but the scheduling of their physicals made it impossible for them to play against the Memphis Grizzlies. At that point, Sixers fans were losing their minds. They wanted to see the new guys take the court for the first time. Fortunately, the next game against Chicago was in play for both of them. So at least that's what everybody thought.

A few hours before tip-off, Robinson and Burks cleared their physicals and were made available to play for Philly on Sunday night. Considering they just joined the team and had some heavy travel as of late, the number of minutes they would receive against the Bulls was unspecified heading into the matchup.

As expected, there were limitations. Glenn Robinson III checked in for the first time on Sunday and totaled for a little over 12 minutes. Burks, on the other hand, did not play. Considering the frustration that has been built up by the slow process of finalizing the trade, Sixers fans were expectedly ticked off at the fact Burks sat the entire night.

No worries, though, that was really the plan all along. Burks hasn't been traded to Philly just to rot away on the bench -- he was just exhausted is all. Since the former Warriors' guard found out he was being traded late Wednesday night on a flight heading home to California from Brooklyn, it was going to take some time for him to get ready to pack up and leave off to Philly by Saturday night.

After catching a red-eye flight and arriving in Philly late on Saturday, the veteran guard was understandably tired. Following the game on Sunday night, Burks took a moment to speak to the Philly media for the first time and revealed that his DNP night wasn't a Brett Brown decision. It was actually a mutual agreement between the player and the front office.

"[The last few days] have been all over the place," Burks explained, as he's still getting settled into his new city and team. "That's why I didn't play tonight. I was on the red-eye flight and got here really early, so we came to an agreement that I didn't have to play tonight."

Sixers' head coach Brett Brown further revealed after the game that he was ordered not to play Burks on Sunday. "It was just direction from the front office," Brown said. "We're just trying to give him a bit of daylight as he tries to come into the program." Since Robinson and Burks arrived at different times, they had different rules. Robinson didn't require any limitations. Therefore, Brown played him and not Burks.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_