Fans in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Utah and a host of other cities are keeping a close eye this season on the guys on top of everyone’s draft board — Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid at Kansas, Jabari Parker at Duke, Julius Randle at Kentucky.
But one guy they can’t watch is Dante Exum, who is playing in Australia.
DraftExpress.com has Exum — a 6’6” combo guard who maybe could play a little three depending on the system — as the No. 5 prospect.
And you can expect him to come out, a number of agents told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Australian Dante Exum has completed meetings with eight powerhouse player representation agencies and left them a strong impression that he plans to enter the June NBA draft, sources told Yahoo Sports.
I would be shocked if he doesn’t enter the draft,” one agent who recently met with Exum’s family told Yahoo Sports. “He knows he’s a lottery pick, and knows several teams have him very high on their boards. His family knows that this is an opportunity that may not come again.”
Another agent who traveled to Australia told Yahoo: “This is a bright, thoughtful kid – a great family – and they’re taking their time to think all this through. But in the end, I didn’t sense anything that would hold him back from [the draft]. … I can’t imagine him not coming out.”
In theory he could go to college for a year to gain some seasoning, but if you are a top five pick why would you take that risk? Besides, as much as the college people hate to admit this, you develop your game better in the NBA — no limits on practices, better coaching (in general), better competition to push you.
Exum is a big guard who can handle the rock, create for himself and others, can work in the post or on the wing, and looks like he could work in a number of systems. He’s not a great defender right now but there is a lot of potential on that end of the floor. He needs to improve his shot, but that is something teams feel they can work on — you can’t teach athleticism and great court vision, you can teach shooting form.
Exum is going to come and he’s going to go high — and in an NBA where ball-handling guards are at a premium he could make one team very happy.