Dallas Mavericks guard Dante Exum celebrates bittersweet Father’s Day during NBA Finals

BOSTON – Father’s Day was bittersweet for Dallas Mavericks reserve guard Dante Exum on Sunday.

The Australian celebrated his first Father’s Day — his daughter Daria Lior was born in December 2023. Exum’s girlfriend, Jessica Corey, and their daughter remained in Dallas as the Mavericks prepared for a do-or-die Game 5 of the NBA Finals Monday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). It was also the first Father’s Day for Exum without his father, Cecil, who died July 2 at age 60.

“Obviously, the main thing that sucks is being away from my family,” Exum, 28, told Andscape after practice Sunday at TD Garden. “But playing in the Finals is something I wanted to do and I’m doing it for her. I just had a daughter, so it’s my first Father’s Day as a father and without my dad …

“He would’ve been here every step of the way. And I think that is what hurts the most. But I know he is proud.”

Before Exum played in the NBA and made it to the Finals, his father, Cecil, was the first talented basketball player in the family.

Cecil Exum had his high school jersey retired at Southern Wayne High School in Dudley, North Carolina. He was named MVP after he led the school to the 1980 North Carolina 4A state title. He played with Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and James Worthy on the University of North Carolina’s 1982 NCAA championship team.

Cecil Exum was a 6-foot-6 forward who averaged 1.5 points in 103 games with the Tar Heels from 1980-84. The Denver Nuggets selected Exum with the 194th overall selection in the 1984 NBA draft but suffered a serious knee injury before the start of camp.

“I haven’t been around Jordan much,” Exum said. “But I saw him one of the times I was in Charlotte and he loved my dad. My dad loved him and his competitiveness. My dad was a competitor, too. That was an aspect I always took away from him.”

Cecil Exum played professionally for one season in Sweden in 1985 before going to Australia’s National Basketball League from 1986-96. The 1989 NBL champion averaged 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in 197 career games.

“There are similarities between me and him,” Exum said. “He got injured coming out of college. He was drafted later rounds to Denver and got injured right before camp with his knee. He was someone who was able to help me throughout [my injury issues] because he went through it. He was able to have a successful career in Australia and fight back and get to the highest league there.”

Exum’s parents, Cecil and Desiree, are from North Carolina and met in college. After he was born in Melbourne, Australia, on July 13, 1995, Exum said, his parents raised their three children in Australia “because they loved it over there.” What they loved was Australia was an English-speaking country that “offered a lot of love,” Exum said.

Exum has U.S. and Australian passports. He grew up playing basketball, Australian rules football and competing in the 200-meter dash, 400 and long jump in track and field in Melbourne. With his father’s support, he decided to focus on basketball when he was about 7.

“It wasn’t something that he was pushing and trying to live through me,” Exum said. “There were a couple times throughout my life when I wanted to do different things. To him, it was either this or basketball. If I wanted to let basketball go, he was happy to let it go. Ultimately, I chose basketball.

“I did a little track and field and Australian rules football. Those were some early mornings and he said, ‘You can do it if you want, but you got to stop playing basketball.’ So, I chose basketball.”

It pains Exum that his father wasn’t able to see him play in the NBA Finals. He missed his father’s support and advice during a roller-coaster ride in, out and back into the NBA.

Exum was the fifth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz over the likes of two-time All-Stars Julius Randle and Zach LaVine and 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart. He averaged 4.8 points and 2.4 assists as a rookie during the 2014-15 season. Major injury woes began for Exum after he tore the ACL in his left knee in August 2015 during an Olympic qualifying game between Australia and Slovenia.

Exum said the toughest part of his career was missing the entire 2015-16 season. He played in 66 games for the Jazz in his return during the 2017-18 season, but faced another injury setback and played only 14 games after having preseason shoulder surgery. While playing for Utah and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2019-2021), he never played in more than 42 regular-season games due to injuries.

“There is nothing that I regret or wish I did differently,” Exum told Andscape on May 30. “Most of it was being unlucky with injuries. It gives me appreciation to the work I have to put in now and even the work I put in when I’m healthy.

“I put pressure on myself to perform [then]. But in the situation I was in with Utah, I had a good understanding of where I was. There were too many ups and downs.”

Exum signed a non-guaranteed, three-year deal with the Houston Rockets for the 2021-22 season. The Rockets, however, waived him before the start of the regular season. Without a guaranteed NBA option, Exum sought an alternative opportunity to “go play and have fun.” So, he signed with European powerhouse FC Barcelona in Spain in 2021 and won a 2022 Spanish Cup.

Exum rejuvenated his basketball career by averaging 13.1 points during the 2022-23 season with Partizan Belgrade, winning an Adriatic League title and earning all-league honors. Because he had played in the NBA, Partizan viewed him as a leader and a teacher with his teammates. Exum also played well in the 2020 Tokyo Games for Australia, which boosted his hopes of returning to the NBA.

“At first, I was worried about getting back to the NBA,” Exum said. “But once I got over that, I was ready just to play and have fun. I wouldn’t say it was humbling, because I was pretty humble at that point. But I used it as motivation just to prove that I belonged.”

While Exum was flourishing in Europe, he always believed he would return to the NBA while and was also encouraged by his father.

“His advice was to just have fun,” Exum said. “Every dad wants to see their son in the NBA. He knew that I belonged in the NBA. He was with me when I signed with Barcelona at first. He was excited, ready for me to take on that challenge.

“And he was the first one over there with me. We shared a hotel room with him snoring right before I played my first game with Real Madrid. It was just a little experience where he was riding with me the whole way.”

Cecil Exum attended European games regularly, watching his son play for Real Madrid and Partizan. Looking back, Exum appreciates that special time with his father.

“He was over there in Madrid with me and Serbia,” Exum said. “What he was going to do was follow as much of my basketball as he could. That’s why it sucks right now and hurts right now watching because he would’ve been at every game traveling.”

Cecil Exum was hospitalized in the intensive care unit in Los Angeles in 2023 due to lung complications. Exum was at his father’s side in the hospital when he was mulling over the two-year, $6.15 million deal with the Mavericks that he agreed to quickly. Cecil Exum died July 2, 2023, at age 60 before his son signed with Dallas. Cecil Harris’ homegoing service and burial were held July 20 in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Exum says he still hasn’t fully healed from his father’s death.

“He just lived by example. He just showed the love and support every day,” Exum said. “People talk to me about him. There are some things that he did for me that I didn’t even know. It was always about how much he loved his kids. Me, my brother and my sister, he would do anything for us. I felt that when he was here …

“I don’t think I will ever come to peace with it. I can sit here and say I have. But I still feel when I go back to Australia [his presence] will be there when I go back to the routine. Australia was home. So, I go back to places and expect to see him, that is going to be the hardest thing.”

Exum saved his best playoff performance when Dallas needed it the most. With Dallas facing elimination in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, he scored 10 points and nailed two 3-pointers off the bench during the Mavericks’ 122-84 victory over the Celtics. The Mavericks are down 3-1 to the Celtics in the best-of-seven series. No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the NBA Finals.

Exum said “the only way” the Mavs can view their tough situation now is with a mentality of one game at a time.

“If we lose, we’re going home,” he said. “We need to make sure that we win every quarter, every possession. I think that is the mindset. Make every possession important. If we can do that, we can win.”

Because of his ties to America and Australia, Exum looks forward to celebrating his father on Father’s Day twice a year. Father’s Day is celebrated in the United States on every third Sunday of June. Australia’s Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September each year.

“I always joked with my dad that wherever he was at was the Father’s Day he got,” Exum said. “It’s little stuff like that where you can kind of laugh. But I kind of regret that I made jokes like that. I want to just go out there and make him proud, which I feel like I’ve done. Hopefully, we can win.”