What Country Does Dante Exum Play For?

Dante Exum is an Australian professional basketball player, currently playing for the Dallas Mavericks. Born in East Melbourne to American parents, Exum gained a very early liking for basketball. He was a part of the team at the Keilor Basketball Association as a junior and proceeded to attend Lake Ginninderra Secondary College in Canberra to play for his senior year. In 2013, Exum played in the Nike Hoop Summit for the World Select team and immediately turned heads. He scored 16 points while grabbing 3 rebounds and dishing out 2 assists in a 112-98 win over the USA junior select team. After he graduated from Lake Ginninderra Secondary College, Exum had the opportunity to play college basketball in the United States but decided against it and declared for the 2014 NBA draft.

Exum was picked by the Utah Jazz as the fifth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He had pretty high expectations considering he was a lottery pick. But Exum did not live up to this. He averaged very sub-par numbers in his rookie season, with only 4.8 points and 1.6 rebounds. Everyone expected Exum to have a bounce-back season but that wouldn’t come to be as in the offseason while playing against Slovenia, Exum tore his left ACL and would be forced to miss the entire 2015-16 NBA season. Exum returned to action the next season but injuries played a role once more as he had to get shoulder surgery in the middle of the season. This forced him to miss most of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons and he returned to action only in late March of 2018. In the 2018 offseason, Exum re-signed with the Jazz. Exum had a few strong outings at the beginning of the season but just like Exum’s career so far, even this was short-lived. He suffered an ankle sprain in a game against the Pistons and was ruled out for a ‘couple of weeks’. However, he later developed an ankle bruise and his return got delayed and he ended up missing 25 games. After his return, he played only 4 games before he suffered a partially torn tendon which forced him to miss the rest of the season.

After the 2019-19 season, Exum was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He barely played for them and only came off the bench. In January 2021, he was traded to the Houston Rockets in the blockbuster James Harden trade. His career there too was short-lived as he was waived by them just before the season started. Since then, he’s been mostly playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague before he signed with the Dallas Mavericks in 2023.

Dante Exum’s Australian National Team Career

Exum plays for the Australian National Team and has played for Australia’s junior and senior national teams. He represented Australia in the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Cup and the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. He was named to the All-Tournament team in the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. After 2013, Exum transferred to the senior men’s national team. He represented Australia in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. He also represented Australia in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where he was part of the bronze medal-winning team. Exum is gearing towards playing for Australia in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.