The Sacramento Kings selected Canada’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper 24th overall in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday.
Prosper will reportedly be traded by the Kings to the Dallas Mavericks.
The six-foot-seven wing from Rosemere, Que. (a Montreal suburb) climbed draft boards during the past few months. Prosper received an invitation to the green room for the draft, a signal that he was likely to be taken in the first round.
Prosper attended the NBA Academy in Mexico City for his senior year of high school with Montrealer Bennedict Mathurin, who earned NBA all-rookie honours this year after being taken sixth overall by the Indiana Pacers, before going to Clemson in 2020.
Prosper spent his last two seasons at Marquette where he developed into one of the best and most positionally versatile defenders in college basketball, regularly taking on the opponent's best scorer regardless of position.
Last season was when it all came together for Prosper, who took a big jump on the offensive end of the floor, averaging 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds on 51/34/71 shooting splits.
Prosper’s sister, Cassandre Prosper, is a great prospect in her own right, soon to enter her second season at Notre Dame.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.