Dante Exum Injured After Getting Bodyslammed During Massive EuroLeague Brawl

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Plenty of NBA players opt to take their talents overseas when they hit the twilight of their career, and while the stakes may technically be a bit lower in foreign leagues, the competitive juices have a tendency to flow incredibly hard.

Dwight Howard may not have been directly involved in the melee that unfolded in Taiwan’s Super Basketball League earlier this year, but he got a front-row seat to a very spirited exchange of blows exchanged by players on both teams.

However, a couple of former NBA players were decidedly front and center in another fight that broke out in the EuroLeague playoffs shortly after the postseason kicked off this week.

Dante Exum stuck around in the NBA for seven seasons before the man who went fifth overall in the 2014 draft headed over to Europe, where he currently plays for Belgrade-based Partizan.

On Thursday, his squad faced off against Real Madrid, which boasts a number of former NBA players—including Guerschon Yabusele, who had a brief stint with the Celtics before landing in Spain after a couple of similarly short campaigns with other international clubs.

Partizan was well on its way to the win in the closing minutes of a showdown on Thursday before things went off the rails courtesy of Real Madrid’s Sergio Llull, who hit Kevin Punter with a wildly unnecessary forearm foul that led to a massive brawl that caused the benches to clear. 

Yabusele grabbed Exum in the ensuing fray before slamming him to the ground, and that uncalled move had some pretty serious consequences.

According to HoopsHype, Exum tore a tendon in his foot after getting tossed onto the court and needed crutches to exit the arena after the game.

Yabusele did issue an apology on Instagram after the dust settled, but it’s safe to assume he’s got some discipline headed his way.