Dante Exum Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavericks, Dante Exum Have Mutual Interest In New Deal

June 2nd, 2025 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite rumors that he’s being targeted by the Turkish team Fenerbahce, veteran guard Dante Exum is believed to prefer to remain in the NBA for the 2025/26 season, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).

According to Stein, Exum and the Mavericks have mutual interest in trying to work out a new deal after he spent the past two years in Dallas.

The No. 5 overall pick in the 2014 draft, Exum spent the first seven years of his professional career in the NBA, playing for Utah and Cleveland, but struggled to establish himself as a reliable rotation player, largely due to his lack of offensive production. He played in Europe for two seasons from 2021-23, developing a reliable three-point shot during his time with Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade, then returned stateside during the 2023 offseason.

Injuries, which hampered Exum’s development earlier in his career, have continued to be an issue during his second NBA stint, limiting him to 75 total appearances across the past two seasons. But he has been a very effective role player for the Mavs when healthy, averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.472/.768.

As Stein points out, Dallas will be seeking backcourt help for next season with Kyrie Irving‘s recovery from ACL surgery expected to extend well into the fall. That should help create a path for Exum’s return. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent.

However, the team might have to make a trade or two to ensure there’s room on the roster for Exum. Dallas has 10 players on guaranteed contracts for 2024/25, plus Irving and Dwight Powell holding player options, Brandon Williams with a team-friendly club option, and Cooper Flagg expected to join the roster as the No. 1 pick in the draft. That’s 14 players, and the Mavs are expected to look outside the organization for point guard help as well.

The Mavs will hold Early Bird rights on Exum, who earned $3.15MM this past season.

Turkish Team Hopes To Sign Dante Exum, Vasilije Micic

June 1st, 2025 at 11:02am CST by Arthur Hill

Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce is targeting two NBA players for next season, according to international basketball writer Zafer Ertas (Twitter link), who reports that negotiations have already begun with Dante Exum and Vasilije Micic.

Exum, who’ll turn 30 next month, will be an unrestricted free agent after spending the past two years with the Mavericks. He made a surprise return to the NBA in 2023 after spending the previous two years with FC Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade in the EuroLeague. He was a consistent rotation member as Dallas reached the NBA Finals during the 2023/24 season, appearing in 55 games and averaging 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 19.8 minutes per night.

Exum put up similar numbers this year, but he was limited to 20 games having missed the first 48 games of the season while recovering from wrist surgery and nearly a month down the stretch after breaking his hand. Injuries have been a constant for Exum, who was selected by Utah with the fifth pick in the 2014 draft, but was only fully healthy for his rookie season. He also spent time with Cleveland and Houston before leaving for Europe in 2021.

Micic isn’t officially a free agent yet, but the Suns are expected to decline their $8.1MM team option for next season before the June 29 deadline. The 31-year-old point guard made just five brief appearances after being acquired from Charlotte in early February.

Micic was named EuroLeague MVP with Anadolu Efes in 2021 and is a two-time league champion. He made his NBA debut with the Thunder last season, but was never able to establish a consistent role with any of his three teams. He has averaged 6.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 101 total NBA games.

Micic has also reportedly received interest from Real Madrid, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Crvena Zvezda and Olympiacos. A story last week indicated that he wants to be paid five million euros ($5.685MM), which is a pricey sum for a EuroLeague team.

Mavericks Notes: Two Timelines, Offseason, Point Guards

May 29th, 2025 at 8:50pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Armed with the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft as well as two 2025 All-Stars on the wrong side of 30, the Mavericks are gearing up for a “two-timeline” approach, much like the Warriors strived to do when they had an opportunity to complement aging incumbent stars with lottery picks in 2020 and ’21, writes Christian Clark of The Athletic.

Duke forward Cooper Flagg, the top prospect among the 2025 draft class, could slot in as the rare one-and-done rookie who helps his team win in the present, Clark opines. The big question about Dallas’ contender status, however, stems from just how healthy 32-year-old Anthony Davis and 33-year-old Kyrie Irving will be during the next few years they’re under contract.

There’s more out of Dallas:

After drafting Flagg, the Mavericks will have a variety of items to address during the 2025 offseason, as Keith Smith of Spotrac details in a thorough summer preview. Irving has a player option for next year, while guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Dante Exum are unrestricted free agents. Smith notes that Irving expects to return to the floor around the 2026 All-Star break. Smith projects that he could opt out and agree to a three-year, $120MM deal to remain with the Mavericks. Smith notes that free agents like Chris Paul, Malcolm Brogdon, Tyus Jones and Tre Jones could all get a look from Dallas as possible Irving replacements.
With Irving likely sidelined for much of the 2025/26 season, Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News proposes five veteran players at Irving’s position that the Mavericks could target on the trade market, including Bulls guards Coby White and Lonzo Ball, Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, and more.
In case you missed it, Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney has made the third round of candidates for the Suns’ head coaching vacancy.

Southwest Notes: Exum, Paul, Edey, Reeves

April 8th, 2025 at 9:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Dante Exum could make a surprise early return from his left hand surgery. The Mavericks guard has been upgraded to questionable for their game against the Lakers on Wednesday, Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Exum was expected to miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his left hand in mid-March.

Anthony Davis (adductor strain) is listed as probable to play in Wednesday’s game.

We have more from the Southwest Division:

Chris Paul isn’t sure if he’ll continue to play beyond this season. Paul, who will be a free agent again this summer, said he’s enjoyed his time in San Antonio, he told Mike Monroe of The Athletic. “You never know where your career, your journey, is going to take you,” said Paul, who is averaging 8.8 points and 7.6 assists per game with the Spurs. “I would never have imagined I would be here in San Antonio and have my career end with never coming here.”
Lottery pick Zach Edey has been on a nice run as the season winds down. The Grizzlies‘ rookie center has averaged 16.7 rebounds in three April outings. He had a double-double against the Lakers late last month. Edey doesn’t mind doing the dirty work. “That’s always been my favorite type of game,” he told Michael Wallace of Grind City Media. “These are games when refs let you play, let you bang, and it gets physical. That’s always been the kind of game I thrive in.”
Rookie Antonio Reeves led the Pelicans with 23 points in a loss to Milwaukee on Sunday. The second-round pick out of Kentucky is averaging 13.7 points over the last six games. He’s signed to a three-year, $5.41MM deal.

Mavericks’ Exum Breaks Bone In Hand, Likely Out For Season

March 15th, 2025 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

March 15: The Mavericks have issued a formal update on Exum, announcing (via Twitter) that he has a fractured left hand and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

March 14: The injuries just keep piling up for the Mavericks.

Having entered Friday’s game in Houston with only nine available players, Dallas lost guard Dante Exum in the second quarter due to a left hand injury. According to Shams Charania of ESPN, Exum has broken a bone in that hand and will be sidelined indefinitely.

Confirming that Exum has a broken bone in his hand, head coach Jason Kidd told reporters after Friday’s game that the guard is “probably out for the season,” per Christian Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link).

It has been a comically bad run of injury luck for the Mavericks, who have lost Kyrie Irving and Olivier-Maxence Prosper to season-ending ailments, with Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively among the key players who are in the midst of long-term absences. P.J. Washington, Jaden Hardy, and Kai Jones are all currently on the shelf as well.

Exum missed the first 48 games of this season while recovering from wrist surgery before making his debut on January 31. He has been a reliable role player since then — entering Friday’s game, he had averaged 9.5 points and 2.9 assists in 19.8 minutes per game across 17 outings (11 starts), with a shooting line of .484/.447/.742.

The 29-year-old, who is also considered a stout point-of-attack defender, had still been on a restriction of about 20-25 minutes per game.

While it sounds like Washington should be ready to return from an ankle sprain on Sunday, the Mavericks are far from out of the woods in terms of their injury issues. In fact, it could get worse before it gets better, since two-way players Kessler Edwards and Brandon Williams are only eligible to appear in up to three and six more regular season games, respectively, as we outlined earlier this week.

The Mavericks also don’t have the ability to add reinforcements via free agency, since they’re only about $51K away from their hard cap, which means they don’t have room for a 10-day contract and don’t have the ability to sign a 15th man until April 10.

Injury Notes: Mavericks, Doncic, Lonzo, Ivey

March 14th, 2025 at 6:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks will once again have just nine players available on Friday in Houston. Forward P.J. Washington, who is dealing with a right ankle sprain, was originally listed as questionable, but he has been ruled out and will miss a seventh consecutive game, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Head coach Jason Kidd explained that with the Mavericks scheduled to play an early-afternoon game against Philadelphia on Sunday, Washington was unlikely to be available for that contest if he plays tonight. So, as Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning relays (via Twitter), the decision was made to hold the forward out of Friday’s game, but it sounds like he should be ready to return in a couple days.

There has been no indication that any other injured Maverick is on the verge of being activated. Kidd did say that Anthony Davis (adductor strain) “continues to trend in the right direction,” but there’s no timeline for his return, tweets Townsend.

Besides only having nine players available, Kidd is also limited in how much he can use several of those players. Dante Exum is on a minutes limit of about 20-to-25 per game, while Dwight Powell, Caleb Martin, and Brandon Williams all remain on minutes restrictions too, per Townsend (Twitter link).

Here are a few more injury-related notes from across the NBA:

Already missing LeBron James, the Lakers will be without their other star on Friday in Denver. They’ve ruled out Luka Doncic, who is managing a left calf issue as well as a right ankle sprain, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. The Lakers have lost three games in a row and will face long odds to snap that streak on Friday with their top two players inactive.
Bulls guard Lonzo Ball, who has been sidelined for the past six games due to a sprained right wrist, told his teammates before they embarked on a six-game road trip that he’d see them “on the second half of the trip,” tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network. It’s unclear whether that means Ball expects to return to action by then or if he’ll just meet up with the team at that point — either way, it sounds like he’ll be out for at least three more games.
Despite being ruled out for at least four more weeks on Thursday, Pistons guard Jaden Ivey hasn’t given up on the idea of returning to action this spring, as Eric Woodyard of ESPN relays. As the No. 6 seed in the East, Detroit is well-positioned to make the playoffs, so the team should continue playing beyond the end of the regular season for the first time since 2019, giving Ivey more time to recover. “It’s definitely motivating. I want to be out there so bad,” he said. “And I’m putting in the work to get back so just seeing those guys go out there and compete hard, that’s all I want to do is compete and play the game of basketball so it’s definitely encouraging and exciting to see.”

Mavs Notes: Edwards, Powell, Williams, Thompson, Durant, Irving

March 9th, 2025 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks’ injury woes grew to almost laughable proportions on Sunday. During the fourth quarter of their loss to the Suns, coach Jason Kidd literally had no options on the bench, according to Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com.

Dwight Powell and Kessler Edwards banged heads during the third quarter and both required stitches. Edwards was able to return with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter. Point guard Brandon Williams pulled up just before the third-quarter buzzer and did not return due to left hamstring soreness. With Dante Exum on a minutes restriction, Kidd had to go with what he had left.

“Never seen this,” Kidd said. “Never been in a game that we could not take someone out to rest them because we had no one to put in. They were either in clothes or in the back getting stitches. It is what it is. We got to keep pushing forward.”

The Mavs had eight players ruled out prior to the game and they won’t be available on Monday when Dallas faces San Antonio. They’re not in a position to add anyone else due to financial restrictions, so they will be severely shorthanded.

“We’ll try to figure it out as we go. We can’t sign anybody and Duds (assistant coach Jared Dudley) costs too much,” Kidd quipped. “You got to laugh because if you don’t, this will drive you crazy.”

We have more on the Mavericks:

Due to the depleted roster, Klay Thompson is receiving extra attention on the defensive end, Sefko notes. Thompson managed to score 20 points in the nine-point loss to Phoenix and has averaged 23 PPG over the last three games. “They’re going to take away Klay anyway,” Kidd said. “So just for the sake of the team, hopefully they don’t take away Klay and we can get some easy looks for him. But it’s a team game. We got to generate shots. Someone has to be able to touch the paint with the ball . . . and we got to be able to knock down open shots.”
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving‘s teammate with Brooklyn, expects the high-scoring guard to play at an All-Star level again after he recovers from his season-ending ACL injury. “Any human would be upset, pissed off. Curious as to why this happened. You go through those emotions. Then the faster you get over that, the faster your recovery will be,” Durant said, per Christian Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link). “Kyrie is a hard worker. He’s disciplined every single day — his regimen, his routine. That’s why he’s so great. He’s so great, I’m expecting him to come back and be the same Kyrie. Expecting him to come back and lead Dallas and be the same team they’ve always been. We all can’t wait to see him back on the floor.”
In case you missed it, second-year forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper has a significant right wrist injury and is expected to require season-ending surgery. Get the details here.

Mavs’ Prosper Expected To Require Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

March 7th, 2025 at 5:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The bad injury news keeps coming for the Mavericks, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that second-year forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper has a significant right wrist injury and is expected to require season-ending surgery. Prosper has been diagnosed with ligament damage in that wrist, Charania adds (via Twitter).

The 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Prosper didn’t play major minutes in the first half of Dallas’ season, but has become a more frequent member of the rotation in recent weeks as the team’s injuries have piled up.

Since January 20, Prosper has appeared in all 21 of the Mavericks’ games and made four starts. During that stretch, the 22-year-old has averaged 5.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 17.0 minutes per night, with a .410/.207/.689 shooting line. For the season, he has registered 3.9 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 0.8 APG in 11.2 MPG across 52 appearances.

Prosper is under contract for $3MM next season. Dallas will have to decide by October 31, 2025 whether or not to pick up his $5.26MM option for the 2026/27 season.

In addition to Prosper, the Mavericks’ injury list currently includes Anthony Davis (adductor strain), Kyrie Irving (ACL tear), Daniel Gafford (knee sprain), Jaden Hardy (ankle sprain), Dereck Lively (ankle stress fracture), P.J. Washington (ankle sprain), and Kai Jones (quad strain). Many of those players have already missed several weeks or will be out for an extended period going forward — or both.

The one piece of good news in Dallas is that Caleb Martin, acquired at last month’s trade deadline, has been cleared to make his Mavs debut on Friday vs. Memphis, according to head coach Jason Kidd (Twitter link via Christian Clark of The Athletic). Kidd said there are “no expectations” for Martin in his first game with his new team, tweets Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.

“He’s going to (play) 15 minutes. The biggest expectation is to be healthy coming out of this,” Kidd said. “For his 15 minutes, we hope that it’s going to be a great experience.”

Mavericks guard Dante Exum will also be available on Friday after missing one game with a right foot contusion, Kidd confirmed.

Mavericks Notes: Irving, Exum, All-Star Weekend

February 15th, 2025 at 6:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

His stays in Boston and Brooklyn both ended badly, but Kyrie Irving has found peace during his two years in Dallas, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Irving, who was selected for the All-Star Game after Anthony Davis suffered an injury, has resurrected his career with the Mavericks, Washburn observes, and has stopped talking to the press about topics other than basketball.

“I’m definitely having a lot more fun and I think it comes from understanding the big picture here while I’m in the league,” Irving said. “As a young player, you struggle with trying to live up to expectations, mentally stay strong, stay tough, follow your predecessors, read about their journeys, ask questions. Until you’re in situations and circumstances going through it yourself, you really have no idea how to handle it and I think that’s what these past few years have been about, obviously keeping my joy of the game but making sure I have a great environment, great support system around me, ready to keep me grounded.”

Irving hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down at age 32, averaging 24.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists through 44 games. He has become the unquestioned leader of the team in the wake of the Luka Doncic trade, and with a $44MM player option for next season, he’ll likely be getting a new long-term contract this summer. Washburn adds that Irving acknowledges he made mistakes in the past, but he has grown throughout his time in the NBA.

“I think I just had to get over the hurt of being let down by not only myself but the people I trusted,” he said. “Just innocence, once you lose your innocence in business, it’s hard to recover back from that, some people don’t recover back from that. That was the place I was in, innocence coming into the league, fresh-eyed, wide-eyed play a few years, end up leaving Cleveland, going to Boston and Brooklyn, my journey has not been perfect but I’ve been able to make sense of it, take accountability for my decisions and move forward with some great people around me and understand that I’m human, too.”

There’s more from Dallas:

Relying heavily on Irving is the Mavericks’ only hope of salvaging what has turned into a tumultuous season, states Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. Before sitting out Thursday’s game with a right shoulder issue, Irving logged 42, 40, 42, 44 and 40 minutes in the previous five contests. He’s been forced to adjust his game to look for his own shot more often, including a 42-point performance on Wednesday where he didn’t have any assists. “We joked about the 42 and zero last night, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have (potential) assists or wasn’t looking to pass,’’ coach Jason Kidd said. “The hockey assist (the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the points) has never been part of basketball, but you know it should be on the stat sheet. We keep everything else. But, yes, he’s going to get more shots and Klay (Thompson) has gotten more shots. Everybody will get more shots because (Doncic) was involved in everything.’’
The Mavericks got 27 points from Dante Exum on Thursday as they were able to defeat Miami despite missing their entire starting lineup, Cowlishaw adds. Exum has been putting up the best numbers of his career since returning from wrist surgery two weeks ago, averaging 11.7 PPG and shooting 56.4% from the field. “We missed him after day one of training camp,” Kidd said. “Not having him for most of the season, that’s a big hole but we never complained. We just waited for him to get back.”
New Mavericks CEO Rick Welts played a large role in turning the All-Star Game into All-Star Weekend, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Welts was serving as the NBA’s first national promotions director in 1984 when the league introduced the dunk contest and a Legends Game.

Mavericks Notes: Irving, Kidd, Davis, Simmons

February 14th, 2025 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Faced with a fan backlash following last week’s Luka Doncic trade and dealing with a series of injuries that have decimated their frontcourt, the Mavericks could have gone into a tailspin heading into the All-Star break.

Instead, Dallas has won four of its past five games, including a shorthanded home victory over Miami on Thursday that saw the club run out a starting five of Spencer Dinwiddie, Dante Exum, Max Christie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and Kessler Edwards. All five players scored in double figures, as Exum led the way with 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting.

“No one is pouting. Everyone is playing,” head coach Jason Kidd said after Thursday’s win, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. “Big win before the break. Now we can rest, regroup and get ready for the second half.”

Kyrie Irving had to sit out Thursday’s game – the second of a back-to-back set – due to a right shoulder injury, but he has been playing through a back issue and is averaging a team-high 36.6 minutes per game on the season. His resiliency and leadership has trickled down to the rest of the roster, Clark writes.

“He sets a standard,” Edwards said. “If he sees any of us slacking, he holds us to that. He also has a great personality. It’s light in the locker room around him, so it’s great.”

Here’s more on the Mavs:

The Mavericks and Kidd won’t be fined for the head coach’s decision to skip Monday’s post-game press conference, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, who notes (via Twitter) that the league typically responds to first-time violations of that rule with a warning rather than handing out a fine.
The Mavericks haven’t issued a formal update on Anthony Davis‘ projected recovery timetable from an adductor strain since he was injured in his first game with his new team on Saturday. As Stein writes in a story for his Substack, the lack of a publicly shared timeline is thought to be by design, with the hope being that Davis can take a non-surgical treatment path to recovery. As he reported earlier this week, Stein says there’s optimism that surgery can be avoided, but cautions that it hasn’t been entirely ruled out at this point.
Within that same Substack story, Stein reports that the Mavericks would have had interest in entering the bidding for Ben Simmons on the buyout market, but their hard-cap restrictions prevented them from emerging as a serious suitor. The prorated veteran’s minimum deal that Simmons got from the Clippers carries a cap hit of approximately $756K, whereas Dallas is only operating about $171K below its first-apron hard cap.