After five-and-a-half years with the Utah Jazz, Australian guard Dante Exum is headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers according to a report by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
MORE: Details on the Dante Exum trade
A career stalled out thanks in part to a seemingly endless stream of injuries, the former top-5 pick gets a fresh start with the rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers.
What went wrong in Utah and what can we expect moving forward in Cleveland?
Unreasonable expectations
“He is the closest he has seen to a young Kobe Bryant."
Well, then.
That's what former ESPN NBA Draft expert Chad Ford said back in 2014 when recalling what one NBA general manager told him about the teenage prospect from Melbourne.
"Forget about the point guard thing" Ford continued. "That is who Exum reminds him of. If that is the case, we should be excited. I have a feeling had he gone to college, we would be talking about him right there — if not ahead of — Wiggins and Parker.”
Exum, of course, would be selected fifth overall by the Jazz in the 2014 draft, ahead of guards like Marcus Smart and Zach LaVine who went later in the lottery.
Even if Exum's injuries didn't derail his career - more on that in a moment - the Kobe Bryant comparison wasn't fair to anyone let alone a slender combo guard coming from the ranks of a relatively unknown level of competition, at least when it compares to the typical NBA prospect.
In that regard, Exum's NBA career was placed behind the proverbial eight ball before it even truly began.
The tiresome toll of injuries
It seems like eons ago that Exum played in all 82 games as a rookie with 41 starts.
His first start came halfway through the year in a January game on the road in Milwaukee alongside Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert and fellow Aussie Joe Ingles. Exum's potential shined in that game as the 19-year-old scored 15 points and dished out five dimes as the Jazz eeked out a two-point win.
How long ago was that?
Milwaukee had a young lottery pick of its own starting in that game named Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 20-year-old future MVP was held to 13 points in that particular game, ceding the spotlight to Exum who looked like the best young prospect on the floor. Exum also managed to outplay current Bucks second banana and future All-Star Khris Middleton who was held to just seven points.
Those fleeting memories of promise soon gave way to an unlucky rash of injuries.
A torn ACL in August of 2015 kept Exum out for his entire second season, a turn of events that would only prove a sign of things to come.
After more knee troubles caused him to miss 16 games in 2016-17, Exum played in just 14 games the following year due mostly to a separated shoulder. More issues with the knee, an ankle injury and a torn patellar tendon led to more prolonged absences as Exum played in just 42 games last season and 11 so far in 2019-20.
Add it all up and since his rookie season, Exum's appeared in 133 out of a possible 357 games.
Along the way, the Jazz improved and built their foundation around Gobert, Hayward and now Donovan Mitchell. While once enamored with the idea of their own version of Kobe, the Jazz simply couldn't afford to wait it out in the hopes that Exum would live up to once lofty expectations.
A fresh start
Signed through the end of next season, Exum now gets over a year and a half to re-establish himself in Cleveland.
And even though he's going to a franchise that's invested each of its two most recent lottery picks in guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, he does have one calling card that neither Sexton nor Garland can claim: defence.
Exum's size and length should allow for him to play alongside either of them and given Cleveland's struggles on the defensive end of the floor (the Cavs rank 29th in the NBA in defensive efficiency), he could get the opportunity on a rebuilding team that he simply wasn't going to get in Utah with the presence of Mitchell and Mike Conley.
Even if Exum's days as a franchise cornerstone player are a thing of the past, he still has potential as a wing stopper that can create off the bounce. There's a place in the NBA for 6'5" guards who can defend multiple positions and attack the rim, even ones who struggle to shoot from the outside. Just ask Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs, a perimeter-challenged defensive pest who just signed a four-year, $64 million dollar extension despite the fact that he's coming off missing the entire 2018-19 season with a torn ACL, the same injury that derailed Exum early on.
Only time will tell what Exum can make of his new opportunity in Cleveland. But away from the spotlight of a Western Conference contender and on a team sorely lacking in the one area that he excels in the most, Exum has the chance to leverage a fresh start for a prolonged future in the NBA.
The views expressed here do not represent those of the NBA or its clubs.
