‘Hardest worker’ Montreal’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper a perfect fit for Dallas Mavericks

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This year’s NBA draft was yet another good one for Canadians, with two more going in the first round.

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Montreal’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper joined the Dallas Mavericks after Sacramento selected him 24th overall on Thursday before trading him to Texas, while Scarborough’s Leonard Miller somewhat surprisingly slipped to the start of the second round, going 33rd overall to San Antonio, who also traded him out of the Lone Star State, north to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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All year the expectation was Miller was a near-lock to be selected in the top 30 thanks to a strong second season in the G League, but Prosper kept rocketing up teams’ lists thanks to impressive workouts. He will be tasked with helping to replace veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who went to Brooklyn in the Kyrie Irving trade, and has been missed. Dallas ended up missing the playoffs.

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Prosper is seen as a ready-to-contribute prospect, especially defensively. Dallas also added the second-best shot-blocker in the draft in Dereck Lively II higher, so was lauded for a strong haul for the night. Lively will be a nice target for lobs from superstar Luka Doncic and can also help shore up the shoddy defence.

“The biggest thing is to believe in yourself,” Prosper told reporters at the draft of his rise. “There’s going to be people that believe in you. You’ll have people that won’t believe in you. All that matters is to believe in yourself and go out there and be yourself. At the Combine, my workouts, I was just trying to be myself, in terms of being the hardest worker, loudest guy on the floor, making all the hustle plays, playing defence and controlling what I can control,” he said.

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“Coming in, nobody thought I was going to be here right now. But I believe in myself. I’m going to do this. I’m going to show them. That’s what I’ve done, and I’m going to continue to do that the rest of my career, no matter if people believe in me or not. That’s my mindset.”

As for Miller, it’s too bad he didn’t stick with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, given how good that franchise has been at developing young talent, but the Wolves can be patient with the multi-talented big man. “My growth as a player has increased like no other from this past year, and then previously before this year, I’ve shown a lot of growth as a player. I’m going to continue to grow,” Miller said.

He will take some time still, though, and Minnesota has a lot of good forwards on hand in front of him. The Wolves had mixed success with Canadians in the past. Andrew Wiggins was good, but became a star only after being dealt to Golden State, while fellow No. 1 overall selection Anthony Bennett didn’t work out.

There have now been 39 Canadians drafted between 1989-2022, including 21 in the first round. But those totals overlook how recent the boom has been. Since Brampton’s Tristan Thompson became the first Canadian-born lottery pick in 2011, there have been 11 other Canucks taken in the first 14 picks alone. This was only the fourth draft since 2011 without a Canuck taken in the lottery.

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