Utah Jazz: Three silver linings to the Dante Exum injury

Losing Dante Exum for potentially the season is far from a good thing for the Utah Jazz, nevertheless there are a few silver linings that may benefit the Jazz if they get fortunate enough.

Although it’s been an exciting preseason for the Utah Jazz thus far, their solid play has largely been overshadowed by the discouraging injury suffered by versatile combo guard Dante Exum. Exum’s confidence had never looked higher, he appeared cool, calm and collected on the floor, and he was certainly looking as if he was coming into his own in what many had pinned as a break-through season.

Unfortunately, that came to a screeching halt when Exum was collided into by the Phoenix Suns’ T.J. Warren, causing Dante to fall to the ground hard on his left shoulder and suffer a nasty injury.  Up to this point, we know that the shoulder is separated and that he did indeed suffer ligament damage, however, the extent of necessary recovery time has yet to be made officially known. There is speculation, though, that it could be a season-ending ailment.

That’s obviously terrible news no matter how you look at it. In a season that was set to be a year of discovery for the Utah Jazz and a proving grounds for several of their key players, Exum figured to have a phenomenal year. Nevertheless, his lengthy absence will now simply have to be something the Jazz adapt to and, as has become their mantra in recent years due to the constant onslaught of injuries, they’ll have to rely on a next-man up mentality.

To be clear, I would never suggest that Exum’s injury was a good thing either for him or for this Jazz team as such is certainly not the case. Make no mistake about it, in what was bound to be his best year as a pro yet, he will be very much missed. However, even when something goes wrong, there can always be positives gleaned out of it if you look hard enough.

Therefore, while I’m in no way saying that the following items make up for Exum’s injury or will come anywhere close to patching the void he will leave, in an effort to take a “glass half full” approach, these are three silver linings to the Exum injury happening how and when it did.