Mavericks' worst offseason move is already causing headaches before season begins

The Dallas Mavericks re-signed Dante Exum to a one-year deal late into the offseason, and with exactly one week before the regular season begins, this is looking like the worst move of the offseason as Dallas enters year one of the Cooper Flagg era.

On Saturday, before the Mavericks played the Charlotte Hornets at home in their second preseason game, Jason Kidd revealed that Exum was dealing with "sore knee irritation" in his right knee, which would cause him to miss some time. Mavericks fans had been curious about what was going on with Exum, as he hadn't been practicing due to an undisclosed reason, and Kidd finally cleared the air last weekend.

Exum missing significant time this season after only playing in 75 games over his first two seasons in Dallas was Mavericks fans' biggest nightmare when the team agreed to bring him back this summer, and he couldn't even make it to the regular season before suffering another injury that could hijack his season before it even begins.

Mavericks' Dante Exum signing is off to an awful start

Kidd stated that the Mavs would take the "long-term view" as Exum works through whatever is going on with his knee, and it's not an encouraging sign that he has had to have surgery on this same knee due to an injury back in 2019. He partially tore his patellar tendon in March of that year, causing him to miss the remainder of the 2018-19 season and the beginning of the 2019-20 season, and he is clearly no stranger to knee injuries, as he tore his ACL in his other knee back in 2015.

From what Kidd said, Exum's current complication, which is keeping him out of the lineup, doesn't seem anywhere close in severity to the two aforementioned injuries, but just the fact that he is injured and out of the lineup right before the season kicks off is a major red flag that fans saw coming from a mile away.

Not to mention, Dallas had to waive Olivier-Maxence Prosper to bring back Exum, and the Mavericks may have been better off just keeping Prosper for another year or using that roster spot on someone else whom they could rely upon to stay healthy. Dalano Banton or Ryan Nembhard would've been intriguing options to sign to standard deals rather than Exum, and every roster spot matters in today's NBA.

As shown by Russell Westbrook not signing a contract with the Sacramento Kings until today, there are still high-level free agents on the open market, and the Mavs' decision to bring back Exum came with considerable faith that he could stay healthy and produce at a high level.

If Exum misses considerable time this season and fails to stay on the court once again, the Mavericks' bold bet to bring him back would immediately blow up in their face. Dallas was well aware of his injury history before re-signing him, as he has played for the Mavericks for the last two years and only played in about 46 percent of the regular-season games in that span, and they still decided to bring him back, knowing his durability issues like the back of their hand.

The entire world knows the type of player Exum is when he's on the floor, as he has morphed into an excellent 3-point shooter and remains a top-notch defender and connector, but the injuries are happening far too often to ignore. Dallas will be an extremely tough spot to begin the regular season if Exum isn't ready to play when opening night rolls around, as Nembhard, D'Angelo Russell, and Brandon Williams will be some of the only guards capable of running the show as Irving recovers.