This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Olympics are no longer part of the summer plans for Jazz point guard Dante Exum.
Coming off a season lost to a knee injury, the 20-year-old Australian announced Saturday night he would not participate in this summer's games and would instead focus on his rehab.
"At this stage the most important thing for me right now is to continue training," Exum said in a news release. "It's been great to be back on the court competing, and I'm really motivated to help the Jazz have a successful season this year. My support and best wishes will be with the Boomers this summer, and I look forward to future opportunities to represent my home country."
Exum tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last August while playing for his country in an exhibition contest. The 6-6 point guard had surgery a month later and missed all of the 2015-16 season.
Exum averaged 4.8 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 22.2 minutes as a rookie. While limited offensively in his first season, the tall guard proved to be an important piece of the Jazz's defense in the second half of the campaign.
Exum was also selected to participate in the league's Rising Stars challenge in 2015.
He showed a flash of the offensive prowess Jazz officials hope to see during a brief appearance in last year's summer league. In his only summer league appearance, Exum slashed to the rim without hesitation, scoring 20 points and dishing out five assists against the Boston Celtics.
A month later, the young guard jump stopped during a game against the Slovenian National Team in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and fell to the ground with a torn ACL.
Exum has said he won't participate in this year's summer league. Come training camp, he is set to compete against Shelvin Mack, Raul Neto and Trey Burke for the starting job.
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