The Utah Jazz will be without both Dante Exum and Thabo Sefolosha in Monday’s challenging road contest against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Considering the Utah Jazz’s track record with injury woes, you almost had to know this was coming. Just as the team appeared to be starting to click and with a tough opponent looming, the injury bug has officially bitten. Dante Exum suffered an ankle sprain in Utah’s recent win over Detroit while Thabo Sefolosha left the game with a hamstring injury.
As such, it was reported by multiple outlets on Sunday that neither will be in action for the Jazz in Monday’s contest against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Jazz have been quite lucky on the injury front so far this year, so this is definitely some unfortunate timing. That’s especially true considering that Exum has been playing some of his best basketball of late while Thabo has been a great help off the bench.
Dante Exum and Thabo Sefolosha are both out against Milwaukee tomorrow due to the injuries they suffered yesterday.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 6, 2019
Thabo Sefolosha (right hamstring) and Dante Exum (left ankle sprain) will both miss Monday's game against Milwaukee. Both were injured in the first half of last night's win vs. Detroit.
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) January 6, 2019
In Dante’s last six games, his per-36 marks have been astounding as he’s at 23 points on 51.9 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from deep while adding 4.5 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with a plus/minus of 15.9. He’s certainly appeared to have turned a corner of late and has shown signs of rounding into the prolific player the Jazz have long hoped he could be.
Meanwhile, Sefolosha hasn’t had nearly as great of an impact, but his defense has been as solid as usual and his veteran presence has been necessarily steady.
With those two out of commission, the Jazz – particularly their second unit – will have their work cut out for them against the Milwaukee Bucks who currently hold the best record in the NBA. Look for Raul Neto to earn some extra minutes, for Jae Crowder to need to shoulder a larger role off the bench and perhaps for Georges Niang to see some action.
Hopefully neither player will be out for too much time as their injuries don’t appear overly serious. Both will be missed on Monday and will be crucial to the Jazz moving forward as they hope to continue to surge up the standings with an easier schedule ahead.