Australian Olympic basketball star Dante Exum has taken aim at the EuroLeague and rival star Guerschon Yabusele, who body slammed him during the EuroLeague playoff series.
Exum, who formerly played in the NBA, was lining up for Partizan Belgrade in the second game of the EuroLeague playoff series against Real Madrid when the ugly scene occurred.
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Exum’s side led Real Madrid 95-80 with less than two minutes to play in the game when a foul by Madrid captain Sergio Llull sparked an all-in brawl.
During the melee, the former Celtic Yabusele picked Exum up from behind and dumped him to the ground.
Exum suffered a bloodied mouth and broken toe from the incident and had to be helped from the floor.
“It is a serious physical injury,” club doctor Moma Jakovljevic told Mozzart Sport.
“The tendon in his toe has broken. His finger was injured and his mouth was bloody from a tooth injury.
“The way Jabusele threw him with a judo move, that’s for prison, for life suspension.
“As Jabusele threw him, Exum could have broken his spine, seriously injured his head and ended his career.
“This was terrible. I have never seen this in my life”.
Although Exum left the court on crutches, the Aussie played out the rest of the series.
But although Partizan Belgrade led 2-0 after the first two matches, Real Madrid bounced back to take the five-game series 3-2.
In the decider, Partizan had lead by 18 points during the match and gave up a 15-point lead 90 seconds before the end of the third period to be knocked out of the tournament.
While several players from each team were fined or suspended, Yabusele was given five-match ban for the incident.
And while Yabusele did issue an apology via his Instagram, Exum revealed he didn’t reach out in person.
“I think it’s funny how they controlled the narrative and story,” Exum told Basketnews.com.
“They came out in the media with all the apologies. I didn’t get one apology straight from Yabusele. It just shows how they are.
“I think I even would have felt a little bit better about the situation if he even tried to apologise or do anything. But they did it through the media.”
Yabusele had posted on Instagram: “I deeply regret my behaviour at last night’s game. Basketball is about sportsmanship and friendship. My sincere apologies to Partizan, a club with which we have always had a great relationship, to Dante Exum and his family, to my teammates, my club, and all the fans.”
But Exum was far from happy about the lightness of the ban.
“I think everyone that plays basketball and saw the film knows that the punishment wasn’t tough enough,” the 27-year-old said.
“I think everyone is shocked. We are not playing WWE.
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“I guess EuroLeague sucked it up and gave them light suspensions.”
Partizan’s may be out of the EuroLeague playoffs but will return to the Adriatic Basketball Association
Exum is also part of the Boomers’ extended squad for the World Cup later this year, having been part of Australia’s bronze medal winning 2020 Tokyo Olympic team.
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