2018 NBA free agency: 5 worst signings
4. Dante Exum: 3 years, $33 million (Utah Jazz)
The Utah Jazz signed Dante Exum to a three-year, $33 million contract. This a bold move considering his injury history. Exum has missed significant time due to injuries in his young NBA career. He missed the entire 2015-16 season with a torn ACL and had to sit out most of last season with a shoulder injury.
Exum has shown some potential when he’s been able to play, but his numbers certainly don’t jump off the page. He has career averages of 5.7 points, 2.2 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game on 39 percent shooting. He is a good defender, but his offensive production is lacking and he is too young to be getting so badly injured so often.
To offer him a three-year contract, Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey has to be very confident in Exum’s ability to stay healthy and improve as a player. Sadly, this confidence is probably misplaced. Exum is only 23 years old and has already had a couple serious injuries in his young NBA career.
When players get this injured, this often, and at such a young age, it usually indicates an inability to stay healthy in the long term. Hopefully Exum will prove the doubters wrong and get his career back on track, but common sense says this contract is a huge overreach and a bad business decision.