NBA Hoops

Montreal’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper inches closer to NBA dream while helping star sister

A basketball player drives the ball toward the net as others run after him.

For Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the lessons and experiences are not just for himself as he inches closer to a potential shot at his NBA dream.

They are also for the Montreal native to share with his younger sister, Cassandre, who is embarking on a path she hopes leads to the WNBA.

“Growing up, I was trying to be the best role model I can be for her,” he told The Canadian Press. “All the experiences I went through, I just help her so that she could be better, so that her experiences could be better than mine.

“She’s my only sibling and me and her are really, really close and as an older brother, I just want to do everything I can to help her basketball journey be the best it can be and to guide her through that.”

Olivier-Maxence is a six-foot-eight, 230-pound junior forward for the Marquette Golden Eagles, ranked 16th in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.

Prosper, number 12, dribbles the ball after a turnover during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence on Jan. 30, 2022, in Providence, R.I. (Stew Milne/The Associated Press)

Cassandre, meanwhile, is a six-foot-two guard, who recently joined the seventh-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish as a 2023 five-star recruit out of the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association’s Capital Courts Academy.

Following in family’s footsteps

The two were born and raised in Montreal, kids to mother Guylaine and father Gaetan, who both played basketball on the collegiate level in the 90’s.

Guylaine played one year of Division I basketball at Manhattan College before returning to compete for Concordia University, where she was a two-time RSEQ all-star. Gaetan also played at Concordia where he was a three-time RSEQ all-star.

“My parents lived basketball, I live basketball, so it’s been great,” Olivier-Maxence said. “It’s great to have parents and people around you who played the game because it makes [it] easier for me growing up in an environment like that.”

Basketball was something that was “instilled” in the 20- and 17-year-olds from a very young age.

“Honestly, I always joke around and say that I was brainwashed into playing basketball and loving basketball, but it’s great,” Cassandre said.

For Cassandre, however, her brother’s influence played a major role growing up.

“I think the way I look up to him, he was such a great player on the court, but the way he conducted himself off the court just made him so great on the court,” she said.

“I think what I love about him is that he always understood that I’m his…

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