ATLANTA — After spending multiple seasons in the EuroLeague, Dante Exum is amid a successful NBA comeback with the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 9.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 19.5 minutes per game, shooting 57.4 percent from the floor and 46.0 percent from deep, he's having the best statistical campaign of his NBA career.
On Friday, the Mavs' matchup against the Atlanta Hawks marks Exum's first time competing against his former Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder since returning to the NBA. Exum, the No. 5 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, played all five of his seasons with the Jazz under Snyder's coaching.
Snyder shared that he's "so proud" of what Exum has accomplished in his return to the NBA, highlighting the difficulties he faced with significant injuries during his time in Utah. Between an ACL tear and a shoulder injury, Exum had multiple lengthy rehab processes to undertake as a member of the Jazz.
"I'm so proud of him," Snyder said of Exum. "His road — people forget when he was drafted, he had a number of injuries that were really difficult and he was able to battle through that. And then what he did going to Barcelona and Partizan just continued to get better. I think the fortitude and the toughness that he's shown, going through those situations, it's not at all surprising me that he's having the success he's having right now."
The success Exum is achieving currently is not only sustainable in Snyder's view, but he expects the guard to continue to reach new heights due to his work ethic.
"I'm very confident it will continue and that he'll continue to improve as a player because he's always worked," Snyder said of Exum. "A lot of times you weren't able to see that because he was working through an ACL injury and working through a shoulder injury and some things that he had to battle through that."
"The fact that they came consecutively, he worked so hard to get healthy, and then he'd have something else, and it's just bad luck," Snyder continued. "I'm just really happy for him and the season that he's having and what he's done, the way that he's dug in, with how his path has taken him, and the fact that he's doing what he's doing right now as I said, is not surprising."
Snyder made clear that he will continue to root for Exum's success, aside from when he's playing against the Hawks.
"I always wish him well and root for him, except tonight, obviously," Snyder said.
More must-reads: