Utah Jazz Guard Dante Exum Looking to Avoid Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
Dante Exum may not have to undergo season-ending surgery after all.
The fourth-year guard was expected to miss the entire 2017–18 season after he sustained an injury in which he separated his left shoulder with significant ligament damage in the first quarter of their preseason game against the Phoenix Suns earlier this month. However, it appears that he's not quite ready to call it a season yet.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Exum is currently exploring other ways to treat his shoulder injury because he wants to avoid season-ending surgery.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum is weighing rehabilitation options on his separated left shoulder that could preclude him from undergoing season-ending surgery," Wojnarowski said. "The Jazz and Exum have been exploring multiple medical opinions on an injured shoulder that suffered ligament damage in a preseason game collision on Oct. 6," he added.
Exum already missed the entire 2015–16 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, so he clearly does not want to miss another season due to injury.
Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Tribune's Tony Jones has reported that Exum was spotted at practice on Saturday and he wasn't even wearing a sling.
According to the Deseret News' Mike Sorensen, the Australian guard spoke with Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. And while the coach refused to divulge the details of their conversation, he did share a nice tidbit of information about Exum's attitude while he deals with the injury.
"More than anything, wherever this injury goes, he's ready to attack it. Whether there's some decisions made about how to proceed, whatever that decision happens to be, he's going to be as aggressive and committed as he can be to the recovery process," Snyder said, via the Deseret News.
Exum hasn't lived up to expectations since he was selected fifth overall in the 2014 draft, but he's determined to prove doubters wrong.
