With the Dallas Mavericks preparing to start training camp later this month, the hype surrounding their first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft continues to build.
In a recent interview with our Mavs Step Back Podcast, Olivier-Maxence Prosper named a handful of current NBA players he's modeled his game after, including Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam.
"Model my game after ... I try to take bits and pieces from different players," Prosper said. "A guy that I really like the way he plays is Mikal Bridges. I like the way he plays, a two-way player, you know, can knock down the open shots, push in transition with his length and size ... Guys like Pascal [Siakam] growing up too, watching him play for the Raptors, I like that a lot. I'm just trying to take bits and pieces from every player and become the most complete player I can be overall."
Prosper's studying has been effective, as Mavs assistant coach Jared Dudley, who joined Marc Stein's "The Saturday Stein Line with Marc Stein" over the weekend, is able to see glimpses of Siakam in his game.
"[OMax] goes extremely hard," Dudley said. "He has a little [Pascal] Siakam in him."
Although Prosper has a long way to go in order to reach the level of Siakam, who is a two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA player, and a champion, the physical tools are already there, and he's willing to put in the work to realize his potential.
"I plan on having a significant impact," Prosper tells DallasBasketball.com. "I want to come in and be a guy that's in the rotation and contributes to winning. That's my outlook for my season.
"[Be] a guy that's coming in and asked to guard the best player on the other side. And a guy that's going to, every game, get better and improve, and get the confidence of his coaches and teammates. And then, end the end, [I'm] going to be a big contributor to this team's success. That's the way I look at my season."
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