SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz announced Monday that fourth-year point guard Dante Exum would undergo surgery to stabilize the AC joint on his left shoulder. It’s a blow to the team, and to Exum himself, who was poised to enter the season with a more defined role than he had at any point in his professional career.

Although Exum was likely going to start the season as a backup point guard, it appeared he would be one of the first players off the bench, having developed intriguing chemistry with first-year wing Donovan Mitchell.

Exum’s development, now more than a year removed from a torn ACL, was one of the Jazz's more important storylines entering a season filled with unknowns. However, the injury he suffered against the Phoenix Suns during the preseason will likely cause him to miss most, if not all, of the regular season.

As a byproduct, the development of rookie Mitchell has gained added pressure — pressure the Jazz front office doesn’t need.

The team has shown an adept ability to find NBA players using late first- and second-round draft picks and turning them into high-level rotation players, but the Jazz are stuck in a slump when it comes to the use of lottery picks. It's a slump that stretches beyond the current members of the front office.

Dating back to Enes Kanter, who the Jazz drafted in 2011, the organization’s ability to draft impactful players in the draft has left something to be desired. Following the Jazz selection of Kanter with the No. 3 pick, the team selected current Jazzman Alec Burks with the 12th pick in the same draft.

In 2013, the Jazz traded two first-round draft picks to move up to the No. 9 pick and select Trey Burke. The Jazz drafted Exum with the fifth pick of the 2014 draft, then selected Trey Lyles with the 12th pick in 2015. In 2016, the Jazz traded the 12th pick in the draft for point guard George Hill. Finally, the team drafted Mitchell as the Jazz's latest lottery selection, selected with the 13th pick this past summer.

Of the team’s last five lottery selections, dating back seven offseasons, the only lottery pick set to suit up for the Jazz in their season-opener is Burks, who appeared to be an afterthought when the preseason began.

Kanter was traded to Oklahoma City for a future first-round draft pick, Burke was traded to the Washington Wizards for a second-round draft pick and was recently waived by the New York Knicks, Exum is going under the knife for a serious operation for the second time in three seasons, and Lyles was the centerpiece of the package the Jazz sent the Denver Nuggets to bring in Mitchell.

Hill, who the team landed in exchange for lottery pick Taurean Prince, appeared in just 49 games for the Jazz before signing with the Sacramento Kings this offseason.

That isn’t to say all is lost for the Jazz lottery history. The pick the Jazz acquired in the Kanter trade was eventually traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for starting guard Ricky Rubio. Burks showed signs of promise in the preseason, but, like Exum, is also coming off a series of injuries.

Mitchell appears to be an early favorite as the steal of the draft’s first round, after a tremendous showing during the NBA’s summer league and during the Jazz's five preseason games.

Related:

Dante Exum to get surgery on separated shoulder

Dante Exum will get surgery on the separated left shoulder he injured during preseason, likely requiring him to miss most or all of the 2017-18 season.

Regardless, the lack of production and return stemming from the Jazz's lottery picks over the past seven seasons has taken a heavy, if somewhat hidden, toll on the team.

While it’s unfair to single out the Jazz on players they didn’t select with their lottery picks, as every team in the NBA has passed on All-Star talent at one point or another, the cost for the Jazz when they miss on a draft selection may be disproportionate with other teams across the country.

Recently, NBA owners opted to reform the draft lottery system in order to dissuade teams from purposely losing games to increase their odds of moving up in the draft. Critics of reform cited the difficulty small-market teams face when trying to attract NBA free agents, forcing them to rely more heavily on lottery picks to acquire top talent when building their rosters.

The Los Angeles Lakers, for example, have recently found themselves stuck drafting in the lottery as they try to find the next star to replace the recently retired Kobe Bryant.

Since 2014, the Lakers have selected Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. Russell was traded in a salary dump to the Brooklyn Nets, Randle is on the verge of losing his starting spot to former University of Utah standout Kyle Kuzma, while Ingram has yet to live up to the enormous expectations placed on him before his rookie season.

Even if none of these players ever pan out, including their most recent selection of Ball, the Lakers still expect to be major players for players like LeBron James and Paul George in free agency next season. While the lottery is a tool the Lakers can use to build their team, it isn’t their only option when constructing a roster.

Additionally, regardless of whether the Lakers are a playoff team or not, their revenue stream is something to be envied by a small-market team like the Jazz. According to the latest data from Forbes, the Lakers earned $333 million in revenue last season, while the Jazz brought in less than half that figure at $164 million.

Before the NBA shifted to a more generous revenue-sharing system among teams, the Jazz relied heavily on playoff income to turn a profit. The Lakers, and even more so the New York Knicks — perhaps the league’s most dysfunctional franchise — can’t help but make a profit, bringing in $376 million in revenue. And yet, the Knicks have missed the playoffs each of the last four seasons.

With a limited budget and an unwillingness to venture too far past the NBA’s salary cap, the Jazz would benefit enormously from top-tier talent producing for the roster on a fixed rookie salary. Instead, the Jazz have been saddled with below-average production and injuries from their lottery selections, few of whom have stayed with the team beyond their first contract.

The Jazz enter the regular season Wednesday without Exum, the latest example in a long line of missteps for the team through the NBA’s lottery. With Mitchell drawing early praise for his performance in the preseason, he’ll need to keep up his high level of play to break the Jazz lottery curse with at least one player.

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