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.
Shock horror.
“Comically bad” if you’re insensitive AF I suppose,
It’s about reaching a point of absurdity/ridiculousness, not hilarity.
Oh I get it.
lol
Throw me the rock…not a literal rock. Smdh…TaP
Well now they won’t make the playoffs. Exum was their star.
Basketball gods punishing them mavs
The Curse of Luka Doncic continues…
Mavs fans, I am a Red Sox fan and I am starting to worry about you guys.
This Knicks fan stands beside you, worried about our Mavs fan brothers
Another game, another Mavs player injured. Poor Klay.
He rejected more money with Golden State to go there, cant say I feel bad at all.
Glass Exun got hurt again? Dang that kids luck. I feel bad for the dude. I don’t feel bad for the Mavs though. Play stupid games….win stupid prizes.
*Exum
Oh, and Klay was 2 for 16 last night by the way. Classic.
He has always gotten hurt. NBA is not for him. One of top talents in his draft. 5th pick in 2014.
At this point. I don’t even play AD.
Kasparas or Boogie will fix Mavs …..
Buddy just can’t get a break…
If the two-players are listed as on the team for a game but they do not play does it still count as one of their allowed games? Maybe they lust play 6 or 7 per game if that is a work around the rules. lol
A game counts toward their limit as long as they’re active, regardless of whether they play or not. So they’ll be heavily used in each game they’re active.