Cleveland — Due to right knee bursitis, Dante Exum missed his 12th straight game as the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Indiana Pacers 133-111. As he gets ready to play again, he has participated fully in several sessions, but it seems doubtful that he will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Exum’s status was upgraded when the Mavs submitted an injury report that listed him as unlikely to participate. Although Josh Green’s right elbow sprain was added to the report, he is expected to play against the Cavs along with Dereck Lively II (fractured nasal bone), Maxi Kleber (fractured nasal bone), and Luka Doncic (broken nose).
Exum is expected to make his injury comeback sometime during the team’s current four-game road trip, according to Mavs coach Jason Kidd. If Exum is unable to play against the Cavaliers, he will only have two more games to reach that milestone: a game on the second night of a back-to-back against the Toronto Raptors and a game against the Boston Celtics.
In 32 games this season, Exum has averaged 9.2 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.8 rebounds, which is the greatest output of his NBA career. He is making 72.7 percent of his free throws, 47.7 percent of his three-pointers, and 57.1 percent of his shots from the field.
Exum is expected to return from injury and start from the bench, but it is unclear how this will affect the rotation. The coaching staff won’t have to rely as much on certain options that might not be the best for a given matchup because they will have the freedom to use a variety of lineup styles.
With his consistent ball handling, passing, dribble penetration, on-ball defence, and general spot-up ability, Exum’s skill set offers a lot of fascinating alternatives as a primary bench unit player or next to Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
See my analysis of Exum’s contributions to the Mavs this season on my YouTube channel for a comprehensive look at his influence.
