Danté Exum is likely to miss some time due to a finger injury but will remain with the Australian Boomers for the 2024 Paris Olympics, sources told ESPN.
Exum suffered a dislocated finger in the second quarter of Monday morning's (AEST) exhibition game between Australia and France, after the guard drove into the lane. He immediately checked himself out of the contest and ran straight to the locker room.
The 29-year-old was taken to hospital later that evening to undergo scans. Exum had suffered a compound dislocation of his right index finger but, while there was serious concern in the immediate aftermath of the incident, the scans revealed no fractures, with Exum set to remain with the Boomers ahead of their Olympic opener against Spain on July 27.
The expectation is that Exum will miss time with the injury -- he's doubtful for Australia's Olympic opener vs Spain -- sources said, but the Boomers' medical staff was comfortable with him remaining on the team with an eye toward an eventual return at some point in the group phase of the tournament.
The Dallas Mavericks gave the final go-ahead on Tuesday morning (AEST) for Exum to continue playing on in the Olympics, sources said.
This is the second injury scare in as many days for Exum, who suffered a head knock during Saturday's exhibition game against Puerto Rico. He was quickly cleared of a serious injury after that incident.
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Exum was a key member of the Boomers team that won a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and was primed to be a primary rotation player for the team during this campaign.
The Boomers are coming off an impressive stretch of pre-Olympic warmup games. Brian Goorjian's team went 5-1 in the leadup to the Olympics, including wins over Serbia and France; the Boomers' only loss was to Team USA.