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[insert curse words here]
According to Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune, Dante Exum is expected to miss at least two more weeks due to a bone bruise caused by the ankle sprain from January. He had apparently sprained the ankle so badly that it caused the bone to bruise.
Just in: Dante Exum faces at least two more weeks of recovery time. In short, when he sprained his ankle against DET on 1/5, he sprained it hard enough to pick up a bone bruise. That bone bruise is now what's limiting his return, not the ankle sprain.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 22, 2019
Obviously, this news sucks. If there is a silver lining it is that this is not a new injury—in case the conspiracy theorists wanted to say that the Rudy Gobert All-Star Break Party Boat was the cause of it.
Jazz PG Dante Exum will be missing at least 2 more weeks. Further examination of his sprained ankle yielded the discovery of a bone bruise, which will require additional recovery. Jazz medical personnel stress this is NOT a new injury, but a byproduct of the ankle sprain.
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) February 22, 2019
It appears that even Utah felt that they were closer to Exum’s return until the discovery of a bone bruise. Though it keeps Exum out for longer, this does mean that when he does return he has a higher chance of staying on the court and a lower chance of re-injury.
This does, however, mean that Utah’s bench is going to be pushed to its limits further as they have been struggling to find a playmaker off the bench who can get to the rim like Dante can. Raul Neto has been good in his return, but he is at a mismatch against larger (almost everyone in the league) guards. Here’s hoping Dante has a speedy recovery.