Photo: ESPN

The once highly-ranked international product from Australia was raved about in mock draft only several years ago. Drafted in the top 10, there was little doubt that Exum would be a bust. However, injuries caught up to the young guard who has been through hell and back of the NBA in his NBA tenure.

Exum was selected by the Utah Jazz out of Australia with the 5th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. The Jazz lacked young, exciting prospects and were stoked to see Exum dawn a Jazz uniform. He was picked to play in the NBA Rising Stars game and showed early potential with Utah, occasionally scoring in the double digits quite often.

From 2015 to 2019, Exum did suffer a series of unfortunate injuries in the lower body. Like Trey Burke – a highly talented college athlete the Jazz drafted earlier to hopefully helm their front court and offense – the team decided to move on from both and traded Exum, along with two second round pick selections, to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for combo guard Jordan Clarkson.

Dante showed early promise in the new Cleveland environment, dropping near 30 points in a game before the coronavirus lockout.

Exum is still a highly talented guard and a change of scenery from Utah to Cleveland proved that, yet his slim minutes on the court won’t progress unless he proves he can be the player he was sought after before the draft.

His career-high 28 points: