This Is The NBA’s Greatest Redemption Story

This Is The NBA’s Greatest Redemption Story

Dante exom was once considered one of the most anticipated prospects in the entire world he had a lot going for him he was a taller point guard with exceptional basketball IQ and a feel for the game that most players can’t even comprehend you combine his natural Talent with his length and explosiveness

Dante exom had all the makings of a superstar in fact people even compared him to the likes of Penny Hardaway exom was starring in Foot Locker commercials at the age of 17 and signed a massive endorsement deal with Adidas before he even got drafted Oh the entire world

Knew this was a superstar in the making sadly in the bulk of his early years exm had a rough time to say the least with a major knee injury along with several other issues his career never gained attraction when he did play even his own coaches accused him of being lazy and

That that if he didn’t take the game seriously he’ll find himself out of the league sooner than people realize in a summer league game when he recorded six turnovers his summer league coach ripped him apart I told him he has to play every possession he doesn’t have the

Luxury of being the third or fourth option and standing in the corner in the second half he can’t get tired that easily this was back in 2017 and it was at this point where it became quite clear that exom was not going to be the player we all thought he would be among

Other things he admitted he had a hard time adjusting to the NBA from the rigorous schedule to his own decision-making and lack of motivation he fell into a cycle of bad habits that set the foundation for his demise did you know he was apparently obsessed with Doritos but as he made it

To the NBA he soon realized he had to change these habits or else it will hurt him in the long run dearly and speaking of of breaking your bad habits you can apply this to other aspects of life as well it’s time for me to introduce you

Guys to the sponsor of this video fume fume is an Innovative award-winning flavored air device that does exactly as it says it does instead of vapor fume uses flavored Air instead of electronics fume is completely natural and most importantly instead of harmful chemicals fume uses clean allnatural delicious

Flavors quitting is hard so sometimes and most people have a tough time dealing with it but by using fume you can fill in that void without feeling bad or guilty about what you’re using fume comes with an adjustable airflow dial and is designed with movable parts and magnets for fidgeting so it’s also

Like a fidget toy to help you with stress my first time using it and it actually tasted really good it feels fresh and there’s no bad aftertaste like a lot of other similar products fume has served over 150,000 customers and has thousands of success stories join fume in accelerating Humanity’s breakup from

Destructive Habits by picking up the journey pack today head to trium.vira of the decade from top to bottom there were a plethora of Highly talented players a huge pool of talent deep into the draft not seen from most other classes from Joel embiid at number three

To Clint capella at number 25 to Nicola yic at number 41 there was no shortage of talent from this class over time this draft became known as a historic class but also one where there were a couple of busts near the top Jabari Parker was the most prominent example and he became

Irrelevant very quickly then there was Dante exom drafted by the Utah Jazz the team recently moved on from the Paul Milsap Al Jefferson era and exom joined a team that was the second youngest in the entire league with an average age of 23.4 years old only slightly older than

The Philadelphia 76ers that was during their trust the process years the Jazz were basically having their own little version of trusting the process I do believe joining the second youngest team in the NBA did not create a good environment for exom to develop especially on such a volatile roster on

That team you have so many young guys fighting for touches players coming off the bench just to jack up shots cuz they know their time is limited they had three other guards shooting way more shots than exom did Trey Burke Alec Burks and Rodney Hood and they weren’t exactly unselfish players either they

Were 22 23 years old and trying to get paid the 19-year-old exom played all 82 games in his rookie season averaging over 22 minutes a game but his usage rate was abysmal at 13.8% the third lowest on his entire team that’s not good for his development the three

Guards I mentioned earlier all of them had around 20% usage or higher people simply look at Dante’s numbers and think he had the worst rookie season in history for a top five draft pick I mean seriously his numbers at a glance look putrid however that brushes past all the

Context this was a horrific situation to get drafted to the Jazz plan was to basically play all of their young players and see how they do picking and choosing which ones to keep and which ones to trade away the problem was a lot of these young players did not buy in

And only wanted to get their own and that’s why why despite winning 38 games this year which wasn’t bad at all they averaged the second fewest assists per game in the entire league they had guys who just did not want to pass the ball it bred some resentment with exom but it

Wasn’t just him who was frustrated a young Rudy goar also got fed up too with not getting enough touches as a result exam’s production suffered and most of it was mental soon he found himself lacking the drive and motivation to wake up and keep playing keep in mind he was

The most prominent Prospect from Australia in a long time an entire country was watching him because he was the hometown kid who made it big unfortunately game after game struggle after struggle exom was not improving much in fact he regressed as the season moved along the physical and mental

Fatigue was taking a toll on him it got to the point where he admitted I know it’s going to happen I know I’m going to get tired all the coaches know it too it’s just a matter of doing the right thing so I don’t hit that wall coach

Quinn Snider however did not believe exam’s problems were related to fatigue in response to his statement he claimed he’s just got to keep working everybody’s fatigued if you hit the wall you get up you go around it he needs to keep playing that will help him get better sadly what comes next would

Ultimately change his career forever almost immediately after the NBA season ended did exom headed back to Australia to play for the national team you know not everyone wants to play basketball the entire year but he’s young and he needs something to get his confidence back after a bad rookie

Season then the worst thing that could have happened happened it wasn’t just the tornes yell that sent shock waves across Australia it was this excerpt from ESPN’s news report that was really concerning exom was driving to the paint and came to a jump stop in the middle of the lane

When his left knee buckled he was untouched but went down as he lifted for the shot from the report it seems like he was going in for a routine drive to the paint jump stopped with nobody around him and tore his ACL as he jumped

Up for a shot we didn’t see exactly what happened but from the way it got described it eerily reminded me of how Derek Rose got injured this is concerning exom literally just turned 20 years old a month before this injury there’s no way he should have enough wear and tear on

His body to tear his ACL after landing from a normal jump with no contact over his rookie year he mentioned numerous times about the physical fatigue he’s experienced maybe it’s due to his bad diet perhaps his body is simply not built to handle it this was the first

Sign that exom could potentially be injury-prone but will we have to wait and see Dante exom missed his entire sophomore season recovering from a torn ACL during this time he worked really hard to come back he owed it to himself he felt like he underachieved in his rookie season and the critics started

Doubting him so he desperately wanted to prove them wrong most importantly after a year-long absence exom came back to a team that was steadily improving the Jazz now had a defined identity as a team team with Gordon Hayward leading the way the emergence of goar and surrounded by quality veterans the Jazz

Surprisingly won 51 games exom was slowly improving I mean he still wasn’t that good and barely played in the playoffs but there were some good signs he showed flashes of explosiveness the speed and quickness that made him such a highly touted Prospect to begin with his decision makinging and passes were on

Point displaying his superb basketball IQ and methodical approach he was praised for that growing up exom was no longer the worst player in the NBA that’s a step forward with that being said he still only averaged like six points a game and he watched from the sidelines as the Jazz reached the second

Round of the playoffs for the first time in 7 years I’m not saying six points a game on 43% shooting I’m not saying it’s impressive but it was progress it didn’t look like the injury impacted his speed or quickness at all he fully completely Rec covered then there was another

Setback deals the ball attempts the lay tj1 jumps to block the shop and lands on exom both players injured on the play exom dislocated shoulder would not return in a preseason game Dante exom went up for a layup and in comes TJ Warren flying into the scene out of

Nowhere he rammed into exam’s shoulder and the Collision resulted in a a separated shoulder which required surgery it was projected he’d missed the entire season though he did come back near the end and even had some good playoff games in particular the Jazz put him on James Harden to moderate success

His perimeter defense gave the Jazz a noticeable boost that they were missing despite this moderate success exom missing almost the entire season is not what you wanted to see four seasons in and the Jazz started to get impatient the shoulder injury it was just a freak accident and I feel for him

On the bright side he performed well enough in the playoffs to make the Jazz think okay let’s give him another chance the front office was hesitant on keeping him especially now since it looked like Donovan Mitchell and Rudy goar would be the future cornerstones of this franchise alas exom showed just enough

For the Jazz to reconsider so they offered him a 3-year $33 million extension which he joyfully signed in the summer of 2018 Dante exom already missed 25 games with an ankle injury this year is injured again and this time it’s serious an MRI revealed Dante has a partially

Torn patella tendon in his right knee he’s out indefinitely the injuries did not stop exm suffered several different injuries in the 2018 to9 season which culminated with a torn patella tendon in his right knee towards the end of that season facing another long recovery and rehab and now his $33 million contract

Was dead weight over the next several years he got traded multiple times and barely played on the teams he got traded to in every trade he was basically used as a salary dump the seasons were short exom was working his way back from injury and did not get much run when he

Did play he barely looked like an NBA player at this point and by late 2021 he got waved this time no team picked him up seeing his NBA career fading away by the second exom still did not come to terms with it usually players who get

Waved they take a break for a while and maybe try to come back a few months later or a year later but not for exom almost immediately he started his comeback Journey he first looked towards Europe and quickly made his way to FC Barcelona and then Serbia he would play

In the Euro league for two years during this time exm matured a lot initially his intention of playing in Europe was to get recognized and leverage his time there to find his way back to the NBA he felt a sense of urgency cuz his NBA career Slipped Away From Him Over time

However he realized he can’t keep thinking this way my first year in Barcelona I think everything was about coming back to the NBA and then when I signed in Serbia I took on that leadership role to appoint point where everything was about that that was my focus it wasn’t about the NBA or

Anything anymore I was just playing basketball I was enjoying having the time of my life just enjoying good quality basketball and focusing on what I can control Dante exom was offered a 2-year $6 million contract by the Dallas Mavericks this was it after 2 years of playing in the Euro league exom is

Finally back you would think he’d breathe a sigh of relief that he’s back but now the pressure is higher than it’s ever been before this is his last chance his last chance to prove he belongs in this league at 28 years old smack dab in

The middle of his prime if he fails now if the slightest thing goes wrong his NBA career would be over for good exom answered the call those two years in Europe paid off and he’s having the best season of his career with career highs in and shooting efficiency across the

Board exm is playing at a level that we all believed he could play at he impacts the game in multiple facets his ability to score from all areas of the floor and his intelligent controlled playmaking it seems like he’s finally living up to his potential the scoring definitely

Surprised some folks though he looks like a completely different player now compared to when he was in Utah back then it always seemed like he was unsure hesitant and would overthink way too much now oh you can tell his confidence has skyrocketed exom said when he was in

Europe he learned how to play Within A system that he wasn’t used to a play style that forced every player to learn how to read the offense and play to the strengths of their teammates this made him think about the game in a whole different light he

Picked up things he never learned when he was younger remember exom never played college basketball not in the US not in Australia either he credits his own growth and maturity over the years as he developed the leadership skills he never had back in Utah Dante was always

A huge junk food guy there’s a reason he suffered through so much fatigue early on he had a hard time staying in good physical condition until he fixed his diet very few players get a second chance at an NBA life and while exom was mostly ruined by injuries out of his

Control he made the most of it by working on things he can control however I don’t even think anyone cared when the MAV signed him it was overlooked cuz everyone assumed he was washed and he wasn’t going to make much of an impact at all so it’s a pleasant surprise to

See his hard work paid off thank you all so much for watching I hope yall enjoyed the video where do you see xom’s career headed from here did you actually think he’d make the impact he’s making it surprised me too I thought when the MAV signed him it was a

Shot in the dark and that he’d be stuck at the end of the bench like usual the amount of growth we see from him it’s highly impressive he’s a completely different guy anyway let me know in the comments your thoughts and of course as always I’ll see you next time peace

Go to https://tryfum.com/ANDYHOOPS and use code ANDYHOOPS to save an additional 10% off your order today.
Dante Exum had a roller coaster of an NBA career that saw him fall out of the league, but he clawed his way back. This is how he did it.

I make all kinds of NBA videos which include analysis, player stories, countdowns, and mysteries. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!

► X (Twitter): @AndyHoopsYT
► TikTok: @AndyHoopsYT
► Music:
Music: Bay Breeze by FortyThr33 is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Support by RFM – NCM:

Stormfront by Kevin MacLeod
Eternity by Kevin MacLeod
Basic Implosion by Kevin MacLeod
Super Power Cool Dude by Kevin MacLeod

Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Find all of his songs and download them for free here: http://incompetech.com

► Sources:
Stats and box-scores from Basketball-Reference.com, NBA.com, Statmuse.com, PBPstats.com

https://www.deseret.com/2017/7/4/20615223/a-third-aussie-on-jazz-mitch-creek-can-use-joe-ingles-as-inspiration
https://www.deseret.com/2015/1/16/20556588/rookie-wall-dante-exum-doing-all-he-can-to-fight-through-fatigue
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/13389381/dante-exum-utah-jazz-torn-acl

#nba