NBA Draft Trade Review: What Olivier-Maxence Prosper Brings to Mavs

The Dallas Mavericks acquired the No. 24 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft from the Sacramento Kings and selected Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who is a defensive-minded 'glue guy.'
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The Dallas Mavericks had an extremely productive and efficient NBA Draft on Thursday night, as they took the No. 10 pick and turned it into the No. 12 pick, the No. 24 pick and veteran center Richaun Holmes thanks to separate trades with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings.

Dallas ended up selecting versatile young big man Dereck Lively II from Duke with the 12th pick, and then followed that up by taking Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who is a 20-year-old 'do-it-all' three-year player from Marquette. The 6-foot-8 versatile forward is defensive-minded and possess a 7-foot-1 wingspan.

So, while many people already have a general idea of what kind of player Lively could be – he has drawn many comparisons to former Mavericks champion center Tyson Chandler – what does Prosper plan to bring to the table?

"There's a lot of things that I do that I feel players don't necessarily pay attention to. Like, they feel like they should come in and score 20 — nah, that's not what it's all about. It's how can you come in and help a team win and impact the game," Prosper told CBS Sports.

"You see a guy like Christian Braun with the Nuggets, he earned his minutes by doing the little things. I'm a guy that's going to come in, that's going to defend multiple positions, that's going to play hard, that's going to cut, that's going to finish, that's going to rebound. All the things that can bring a lot of value to a team even if they've already got two superstars."

Basically, Prosper is built to be a 'glue guy,' and given his height, length and overall player profile, he reminds us of a slightly more-athletic version of another 'glue guy' the Mavs had to give away in the Kyrie Irving trade – Dorian Finney-Smith. Prosper likely has a higher ceiling, though, given that Finney-Smith was three years older before getting his start in the league with Dallas as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

"Whoever I gotta guard, whoever my assignment is ... I'm going for it," Prosper said in his pre-NBA Draft media availability. "I'm going for their neck."

The Mavs had the 25th-ranked defense last season, so hearing that kind of talk coming from a young and eager prospect like Prosper has to be music to their ears.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.