Mavericks: Dante Exum’s resiliency secret boosts Dallas as playoffs draw near

*This interview has been lightly edited for clarity

Joey Mistretta: How is your health? I know you came back from injury a little while ago, how are you feeling?

Dante Exum: I am feeling really good. Obviously I was out for a bit, came back, and went back down. I think the main thing was just getting right and making sure I’m at a good point which I am now.

Joey Mistretta: I don’t know if you read fan comments, but everyone is so impressed with you. All the fans are just so excited to see you play. What does that mean to you?

Dante Exum: It means a lot. Honestly I think, just to be… I mean, everybody wants to be wanted. I think just from my path and how I’ve got here, everything. Going overseas and coming back, I think to be wanted by a fanbase… There’s no better feeling.

Joey Mistretta: I love your story, just the way you fought back. What has really been the driving factor in that resiliency?

Dante Exum: I just love the game of basketball. I want to play it at the highest level. That’s the main thing. I always set challenges for myself with whatever I’m doing, I think that’s been the main reason why… no matter what it was, whether it was when I was going over to Europe I set that challenge for myself and then coming back obviously.

Joey Mistretta: What is one or two areas of your game that you feel you have improved the most this year?

Dante Exum: Definitely my shooting. Just the confidence, being able to knockdown an open shot. Take my time. Just trusting myself. I think that’s the most important thing.

Joey Mistretta: One last question. Jason Kidd has talked a lot abut your team’s resiliency. We talked about your resiliency. The team itself, you guys have fought through some hard times this year, what do you think goes into that?

Dante Exum: We have guys that have been around, a lot of young guys too. I think the NBA, it’s a long season. There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs. We’ve definitely had our ups where we’ve been winning, feeling good. We’ve had our downs where we haven’t won the games that we should have. I think that only brings us closer together… Early in the season too we had a lot of injuries so, you know, guys got to play and be apart of wins and feeling good as a team.