Dante Exum

The son of American parents, Dante Exum was born in Melbourne. He played with the Keilor Basketball Association in the city’s northern suburbs before moving to Canberra.

Dante's father, Cecil, played college basketball at the University of North Carolina and won an NCAA championship in 1982, a team which featured Michael Jordan. Cecil became an NBA player after being drafted in 1984 by the Denver Nuggets.

Dante was the youngest player to be invited into Boomers national squad when he was 15 and helped Australia to a silver medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championships, earning selection in the tournament’s All-Star five team.

In 2013 Dante played with the Australian Emus at the FIBA U19 World Championships, reaching the semi-finals.

A product from the Australian Institute of Sport’s basketball program, Dante was the fifth pick in the NBA’s 2014 draft to the Utah Jazz.

Dante became only the 10th rookie in Jazz history to play in all 82 games, scoring double figures in 13 of those. He was a member of the 2015 and 2017 Rising Stars Challenge at the NBA All-Star Weekend.

In late 2015 he tore his ACL while playing for the Boomers in an international friendly against Slovenia, which cost him the chance to play for Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Injury became a factor again when he required shoulder surgery in 2017. Then in 2019 he suffered bone bruising to his ankle and a partially torn tendon in his right knee. Later in that NBA season Dante was traded from the Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers

He was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the middle of the 2019-20 NBA season, for which he played 30 of his 245 career NBA games with before getting traded to the Houston Rockets in January 2021.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Dante and the Boomers lifted Australia to the bronze medal, defeating Slovenia in the bronze medal match 107-93.

Dante helped achieved our nation's first men's basketball Olympic medal since Australia made its men's basketball Olympic debut in 1956.

He played in all six matches and averaged 9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 20.6 minutes per game.

After a stint with the Rockets, Dante played with FC Barcelona and Serbian team Partizan NIS Belgrade in the Euro League. In July 2023, he returned to the NBA on a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks – joining fellow Aussie Olympian Josh Green on the roster.

Dante was a key member of the Boomers squad at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, held in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Although the Boomers failed to advance to the elimination rounds, they did secure a berth at the Paris Olympics, with Dante playing in five games and averaging 11 points, 3 assists and 2.6 rebounds.

Dante went to the NBA Finals with the Mavericks in 2024 against the Boston Celtics, with Mavs coach Jason Kidd utilising Dante sparingly in the five-game series the Celtics won 4-1.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics the Boomers started on a strong note, defeating Spain 92-80 in what was regarded as the toughest group in the tournament. Dante missed the game due to a compound dislocation of his finger but suited up for their next game against Canada, dropping 15 points in 17 minutes in a 93-83 loss.

More minutes followed for Dante against Greece (L 77-71) to close the group stage and in the quarter-finals against Serbia.

The Boomers pushed the Serbians into overtime on a Patty Mills made fadeaway jump shot over the outstretched hand of Nikola Jokic, that came with two seconds left in regulation time. Serbia took control of overtime (95-90), knocking Australia out of the tournament.