Former Utah Jazz lottery pick Dante Exum has had an excellent season playing for Serbian powerhouse Partizan, but on Thursday during a Euroleague playoff game against Spain’s Real Madrid, he was involved in a major brawl that saw him get body-slammed onto the court.
With Partizan leading 95-80 with less than two minutes to play, Real Madrid’s Sergio Llull bumped Partizan’s Kevin Punter while defending him.
Punter took exception to it, and soon a fight broke out on the court between the two teams.
Just a few seconds into the fight, Real Madrid’s Guerschon Yabusele (who played for the Boston Celtics from 2017-2019) literally picked Exum up and slammed him to the ground.
Guerschon Yabusele and Dante Exum involved in this massive brawl between Real Madrid and Partizan.
— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) April 27, 2023
Refs suspended the game after this pic.twitter.com/EzGjtQiMHL
Exum, who battled numerous injuries during his seven years in the NBA before going to Europe, immediately stood up but was later seen leaving the arena on crutches.
Dante Exum leaving Wizink Center with crutches #EuroLeague pic.twitter.com/898T9qzvIv
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) April 27, 2023
As noted by Cameron Tabatabaie, the game was suspended at that point. Partizan, the lower seed in the series, leads it 2-0 with Game 3 set to be in Serbia on May 2.
Exum, 27, has averaged 13.2 points, 2.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds in Euroleague games this season (Partizan plays in multiple leagues).
The fifth pick of the 2014 NBA draft by the Jazz out of Australia, Exum played in Utah until getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Christmastime in 2019 for Jordan Clarkson.
Exum then went to training camp with the Houston Rockets in 2021 but was cut and played one year for FC Barcelona before going to Partizan for this season.