Mavs EXCLUSIVE: OMax Prosper Inside Look at NBA Draft Rise - 'I Bet On Myself'

Two-way wings are valued heavily in today’s NBA, and the Dallas Mavericks made it a point to go out and get one in this year’s draft by trading back into the first round to acquire Olivier-Maxence Prosper with the No. 24 pick.

Prosper, the 21-year-old product out of Marquette, who stands at 6-8 and weighs 230 pounds, wasn’t always considered a first-round talent. However, through hard work and self-belief, Prosper rapidly climbed up the draft boards after his summer workouts and NBA combine performance.

This week, Prosper joined our Mavs Step Back Podcast to give us an inside look at his pre-draft process, including his workout with Dallas and a promise he got from Mavs GM Nico Harrison.

"For the pre-draft overall, coming out of Marquette, I wasn't at that time projected to be a first-round pick or anything. But going in, I was like 'I'm gonna go all in,' and I believed in myself and my abilities,” Prosper tells DallasBasketball.com.

“I was like, 'it doesn't matter what the mock drafts say now,' I was gonna put in the work. So I went to my agency (Life Sports Agency) out in L.A. for a month and just straight-up trained to get ready for the pre-draft, workouts, the combine and all that stuff. I was like, 'I'm gonna go out there and outwork anybody that's in front of me, and that's what I did.”

Prosper’s draft stock really started to rise when he went to Chicago and participated at the NBA Combine in May. In his first game, he put up 21 points and seven rebounds in just 22 minutes of action, opening many teams’ eyes to his potential.

“My mindset was to bet on myself, and going to the combine, that's what I did, and that's how I was able to have the performance that I had,” Prosper said. 

“That's how I boosted my stock in those workouts. I did a total of 18 workouts, so I was traveling left and right, going from city to city to help myself up, and I was like, 'I gotta do what it takes.' It takes what it takes, and no matter how tired I was, I did it."

The Mavs were one of the teams intrigued by Prosper early on, and that was obvious by how they treated him during his workout in Dallas. Prosper immediately liked the ‘vibe’ he got from the Mavs, and could see himself calling Dallas his home for the foreseeable future.

"When I came to the Mavs, just the way I got here, and they received me really well. I went out to dinner with Nico [Harrison] and Michael Finley,” Prosper said. “So they just received me really well, and then the workout, I just came in and outworked the people I was against. I just outworked everybody, and I was like, 'I'm gonna put the best chances on my side,' knowing I won't be perfect, but in the workout, I was loud, I was energetic, I did what I needed to do, and they really liked what they saw.”

Prosper continued: “Based on that, that's why they wanted to come back in the draft and trade for me. You never know who's watching or who really likes you in those workouts, but it's about maximizing each opportunity. Each workout is an opportunity, and that was my mindset, and I'm glad they decided to come back and trade for me in this draft. I'm glad to be here."

Although Prosper wasn’t completely sure where he’d end up on draft night, he knew the Mavs were going to do everything within their power to acquire him if the opportunity presented itself due to a promise he received from Harrison. And sure enough, the opportunity did present itself.

"Honestly, I didn't know [if I'd end up with the Mavs], but I knew Dallas really liked me. I knew they really liked my game, and I knew if there was a possibility for them to get me, they were gonna push to get me. That I knew,” Prosper said.

Harrison told Prosper that the Mavs would try their best to get him, and when that vision materialized on draft night, Harrison let his excitement shine through when talking to Prosper after the trade with the Sacramento Kings went down.

“After the workout [in Dallas], I was like 'this is a place I could be.' I really liked the vibe I had from here,” Prosper said. “When we had our conversations during the pre-draft and when I came for the workouts, you could see Nico was really interested in me, and he really liked the type of player and person I was.

“So I wasn't surprised when he drafted me and said, 'I told you! I told you, OMax!'"

For the first time in a long time, the Mavs ended up with two first-round picks in the same draft. Both Prosper and Dereck Lively II are versatile, two-way prospects the Dallas front office believes will grow well alongside franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic for the years to come.

It has yet to be seen what role Prosper will have in head coach Jason Kidd’s rotation this upcoming season, but with his combination of size, length, high basketball IQ and high motor, it’s easy to envision Prosper being a key piece to the Mavs’ success from Day 1.