NBA Free Agency Watch: You Have To Respect The Finesse By Dante Exum

Is Dante Exum good? I don’t know, you don’t know, shit the Jazz probably have no idea. He’s played just 162 games in his career so far, missed an entire season and outside of his rookie year has never played more than 66 games. Last year he suited up for just 14, so it’s fair to say nobody has any idea what Dante Exum is as an NBA player. He’s just 22, so to me this contract tells me the Jazz are paying for what he can become, as compared to paying him for what he’s already proven. Heres what we do know, in every season Exum has actually played his FG% has improved. From 34% his rookie year, to 42% in 2016, to 48% last year (granted the small sample size). His TS%, REB%, AST%, and TOV% have all improved as well. At the very least he gives you the vibe of a player that is improving, just has shit injury luck.

This past playoffs were a good example. He shot 48% in 10 games for the Jazz which was nice and given his age and size you could talk me into this as a Jazz fan. This is definitely a contract they shouldn’t have problem trading later if they need to, and with Rubio/Mitchell/Exum/Neto/Allen the Jazz do have a nice little backcourt. Who’s to say come the deadline they don’t move one of these pieces and an expiring for a player that could help? The Jazz must be confident in everything their medical staff is telling them about Exum and his health and honestly this is what life is like for a small market team. Both this and Favors’ deal could be taken as overpayment, and maybe you want to question why they need Exum if they just drafted a guard, but in my opinion if you’re a market like UTA you don’t give up on a young asset like Exum, especially when it doesn’t break the bank to keep him.

If you’re Exum you obviously love this deal because it gives you some security at a time when guys are signing one year deals left and right, and just like I said with the Tyreke Evans deal, I love what this does for the market of Marcus Smart, who was drafted one spot behind Exum. I just hope that we finally get a fully healthy year from Exum because I want to believe he can be really good. He was such an interesting prospect at the time of his draft that I want to see him actually play. Now that he has a new deal, we’ll hopefully see it as a member of the Jazz.