Inside Canadian Olivier-Maxence Prosper’s Rise To Becoming The ‘Steal’ Of The NBA Draft

It’s hours before Olivier-Maxence Prosper will hear his name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver at the 2023 NBA draft in Brooklyn and the Canadian is sitting in the corner of The Westin Hotel New York at Times Square feeling grateful.

He’s grateful for the opportunity that lies ahead and the journey that brought him here. And grateful for the phone call he received two days prior when his agent informed him that he had been invited as a last-minute addition to the NBA draft green room, an area cordoned off in front of the stage where the top prospects are invited to sit at a table with their family.

“I said ‘Are you serious?’” Prosper responded to his agent in disbelief. “It was really cool. Right after I had to change hotels and come here.”

Prosper wasn’t expecting his green room invite. His plan initially was to sit in the stands with his family until his name was called, but after an impressive pre-draft workout cycle that saw him travel and audition for more than half the teams in the league, Prosper earned himself a spot.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper smiles after being drafted by the Sacramento Kings and flipped to the Dallas Mavericks during the 2023 NBA draft at Barclays Center.

The visions of NBA executives and the dreams of a young basketball player from Montreal came true when he was acquired by the Dallas Mavericks with the 24th overall pick after a trade with the Sacramento Kings.

“It feels awesome to be a Dallas Maverick,” Prosper told the Star. “From the time I went to work out with them, I had a great vibe. It felt right, it felt at home.”

Dallas fell in love with Prosper when he worked out for the franchise about a week and a half before the draft. The feeling was mutual.

There was always a hope around Prosper’s camp that one way or another, he might end up in Dallas. They knew it was unlikely they would take him with their No. 10 pick, and when the Mavericks moved down to No. 12 to select seven-footer Dereck Lively II, they figured Dallas could add a pick in the late first round where Prosper was expected to fall.

Prosper sat in the green room at Barclays Center wearing an eye-popping purple suit and waited. His parents, sister and agents Todd Ramasar and fellow Canadian Mike Simonetta were alongside him while out in the stands, 40 to 50 members of his extended family and friends filled the seats. Two hours had passed when Ramasar, the founder and CEO of Life Sports Agency, tapped Prosper’s father Gaetan on the leg to let him know the good news.

When NBA newsbreaker Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Kings were selecting Prosper but trading him to Dallas along with forward Richard Holmes, cheers erupted from his family in section 124. Prosper was beaming as he hugged his mother Guylaine first, then his sister Cassandre Prosper, who had flown in from the Canadian women’s national basketball team’s training camp in Toronto the night before. His dad Gaetan came next.

The 20-year-old had just made his dream a reality and became the first Canadian taken off the board thanks to a rapid rise up the prospect rankings leading up to the draft that has defined Prosper’s development.

“The guy you get now is not the guy you’re going to get in five to six years from now,” Prosper told the Star on the morning of draft day. “I’m only scratching the surface of who I can be.”

Six weeks earlier, this moment would have seemed unlikely. Only those closest to him could see it coming.

Travis Walton was introduced to Prosper at the DSTRKT, a training facility in Chatsworth, Calif. It’s mid-April, two months before the draft and they are about to begin their first pre-draft workout. While it’s their first meeting, Walton already knows Prosper’s game.

In March, he watched his alma mater Michigan State eliminate Prosper and Marquette from the second round of the NCAA tournament, and the first thing he brings up when they meet is that his team won 69-60. But Walton was left impressed with the Montreal kid who played a game-high 38 minutes and led his team in scoring with 16 points and four rebounds.

Prosper averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds on 51.2 per cent shooting this past season on a Marquette team that won 29 games. He declared for the draft after helping lead Marquette to the Big East tournament championship.

Walton isn’t expecting much from Prosper on this morning. He’s trained a dozen players before the draft — he also trains four-time NBA champ Draymond Green — and knows it takes time for players to get into shape for an NBA draft workout.

“You’re going to play against the best players in the world, but there’s a different level of shape that you have to be in,” Walton told the Star. “A big process for me during pre-draft is just getting you in shape so that you can shoot the ball, you can do things as you’re tired.”

Prosper isn’t tired though. His energy and activeness are in peak-form throughout the workout and it’s leaving Walton a bit speechless. He can’t remember the last time a prospect was in this great of shape so early on in the process. The next day he makes Prosper lift weights before they begin their workout just to see if he can handle the intensity, but Prosper is great again.

Walton phones Ramasar and tells him that his client is going to be the steal of the draft. On the sideline filming Prosper’s workout is his father Gaetan. As more of a visual learner, Prosper loves watching film back and learning from his mistakes.

“A lot of memory on the iPhone (has gotten) taken up for that, but it’s all good,” laughs Prosper.

Whether it’s recording a workout or offering a word of encouragement, Prosper’s father has always been there to help him improve.

Basketball may have taken the Prosper children all over North America, but Gaetan and Guylaine have somehow managed to be there every step of the way.

Gaetan, Guylaine and Cassandre are huddled around the television on a Thursday evening in May, preparing to watch Olivier-Maxence on ESPN. This family watch party inside a Chicago hotel room is a rare occurrence since Cassandre started her own NCAA basketball career at Notre Dame but they wouldn’t miss this for the world.

Prosper has been away from home since 2018, playing high school basketball at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois and at the NBA Academy Latin America in Mexico before heading to college, so the close-knit family found creative ways to stay that way.

When Prosper left they started something called the “word of the day” in their family group chat. Each day someone puts a word in the chat along with its meaning and its significance to the family.

The NBA draft combine is taking place within walking distance of their hotel but only NBA personnel, players and media are allowed to attend. The night before the biggest audition of Prosper’s life, Guylaine cooked her classic Haitian dish with rice, peas and chicken, and packed it for him in containers so he would feel at home.

Prosper and his family feel a lot of pride in becoming the third Haitian-Canadian to be drafted in the NBA joining Bennedict Mathurin, who went sixth overall to the Indiana Pacers in 2022 and Thunder star Luguentz Dort, who became the first in 2019.

“He’s representing the Haitian community, representing Montreal, representing Canada,” said Guylaine. “All those things, I don’t think he takes that lightly. It’s a responsibility, now kids are looking up to you … so it’s truly a blessing.”

Back inside their hotel living room, the Prosper family are running around frantically after watching Olivier-Maxence dart across their screens and rise for an explosive dunk.

In 22 minutes, Prosper scored 21 points and seven rebounds. The performance in front of NBA scouts and executives was everything he could have hoped for.

“I don’t know what it is with mom’s cooking, but anytime I eat that before a game I play great,” Prosper says. “I just ate that, it wasn’t too heavy, it was just perfect for me and I went out there and did my thing.”