Free agent guard Dante Exum is signing a guaranteed contract with the Mavericks, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein (via Twitter), Exum will be receiving a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum.
As Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets, former Jazz GM and current Mavs front office adviser Dennis Lindsey drafted Exum No. 5 overall back in 2014.
Exum, who turns 28 in a couple of weeks, battled major injuries during his NBA career and was limited to just 245 regular season appearances across seven years (2014-21) in Utah and Cleveland. He spent the past two seasons playing internationally after being cut by the Rockets in October 2021.
Known as a strong defensive player, Exum helped Australia win a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which actually took place in 2021 due to the pandemic. He struggled with his shot throughout his NBA career, posting a .407/.305/.764 slash line, but that has changed in Europe.
In 18 EuroLeague games with Spanish club Barcelona in 2021-22, Exum averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .500/.526/.837 shooting in 17.8 MPG. He had a larger role this past season with Serbian squad Partizan, averaging 13.3 PPG, 2.8 APG and 2.4 RPG on .544/.424/.859 shooting in 33 EuroLeague contests (22.9 MPG).
Exum reportedly sustained a ruptured tendon in his toe in late April during the EuroLeague playoffs after being slammed to the court by ex-NBA player Guerschon Yabusele, who plays for Real Madrid. Yabusele received a five-game suspension. Partizan was up 2-0 in the best-of-five series but wound up losing the next three games without Exum. Madrid went on to narrowly win the championship.
Presumably, Exum has recovered by now. If he maintains his shooting turnaround, his defensive versatility could be a nice fit for Dallas if he can stay healthy.
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