Mavericks lose guard from Finals run due to serious wrist injury

The Dallas Mavericks’ Western Conference title defense is off to an ominous start.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Friday that Mavs guard Dante Exum has suffered a serious right wrist injury that could require surgery. Exum, a righty shooter, is currently said to be evaluating his treatment options.

The former No. 5 overall pick enjoyed a career resurgence last season with Dallas after spending the previous few years out of the league. He averaged 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in a reserve role while shooting a remarkable 49.1% from deep. Exum also proved himself to be one of the Mavs’ top perimeter stoppers and got a handful of rotation minutes during the team’s Finals run.

Exum was expected to see an expanded role for Dallas this season after the departures of Derrick Jones Jr. and Josh Green (though Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall did arrive this summer). But now it looks like Exum could miss significant time to start the season, a development that comes just two days after Luka Doncic was revealed to be dealing with an injury as well.