As a breakout junior at Marquette, Olivier-Maxence Prosper emerged as a sleeper draft prospect by January, and rose a lot at the NBA Draft Combine. As a junior and in his second year at Marquette, Prosper broke out as a scorer and averaged 12.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.1 BPG, and 1.4 TOPG on splits of 51/34/73.5. Below is his full scouting report:
Name: Olivier-Maxence Prosper
Height/Weight: 6’7/212
Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’1/8’8
Hand size: 10
Position: SF
Pre-Draft team: Marquette
Tools: Playmaking, defense, physicals, athleticism, feel for the game, shooting?
Pros:
- Growing shooter that had a killer Combine and Pro Day shooting the ball
- Versatile defensively
- Great frame
- Good feel for the game
- Great instincts defensively, allowing for him to register good shot contests
- Excellent in transition
- Intelligent, effective off-ball defender
- Moves well around screens/navigates screens cleanly
Cons:
- Lacks much defensive stats
- Negative assist: turnover ratio
Swing Skills:
- Shooting
Summary/Fit with Mavs:
Olivier-Maxence Prosper was the 24th pick as part of a trade that landed the Mavs the pick as part of a salary dump on draft night. Prosper, or better known as O-Max or OMP, is a great defender with outstanding length and growing shooting.
At the NBA Draft Combine OMP was one of the top shooters in both the scrimmage and in drills, while also making almost no mistakes in the scrimmage. Scouts there believed that the growing shooting numbers (shown in the shooting video below) are a realistic and accurate trend given his 73.5% mark from the free throw line this year and 82% mark last year, which is often used as a strong shooting indicator. He also looked comfortable putting the ball on the floor as needed, which is a similar sentiment to how scouts felt about his tape.
The one bit of intel that stood out to me in my time talking with scouts about OMP was that they are worried his low defensive numbers (1 STL+BLK per game combined) may make his defensive traits difficult to translate. However, I would counter this with his off-ball defense and constant communication and timely rotations still make him a positive defender, on top of his ability to stay step-for-step with multiple positions and sizes of slashers and shot creators.
OMP fits well with the Mavs because he can use these two areas to his advantage in spot-up shooting and strong defense, basically giving them another Dorian Finney-Smith, who was one of their most successful undrafted free agents in franchise history. OMP is going to earn ~20 minutes a game and will likely start as a defensive specialist with spot-up shooting, and as he hits open shots (a la Josh Green) he will command more closeouts as a likely corner shooter. Being a 38.5% shooter from the corner 3 in college this year, he should find success given his new and improved shooting.
The Mavs very well may have found their new 3&D wing with defensive versatility given his 7’1 wingspan and a growing jump shot. The 2023 NBA Draft was a home run for the Mavs, and OMP was a big part of why.
Similar to: Dorian Finney-Smith
Expected role: Defensive stopper with growing shooting ability
Unplayable if: Shooting doesn’t develop like the pre-draft process trended towards predicting, as well as if his negative assist:turnover ratio comes back to haunt him
Exceeds expectations if: Jumper comes along well and he continues to develop his assist:turnover ratio/overall playmaking.
Miscellaneous Synergy Stats:
Catch & shoot 3s: 38-113
Halfcourt at rim: 54-97 (55.7%)
Transition offense: 1.413 PPP (94th percentile)
Videos:
Shot chart:
