Mavericks' risky gamble cost them a breakout first-round talent they need now

Late August: the Dallas Mavericks cut former first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper to sign Dante Exum. Early April: Prosper is thriving, averaging 10.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game on 54.9 percent shooting, including 40.5 percent from three, while Exum sits in free agency. Hindsight is 20/20, but Dallas clearly let Prosper go far too soon.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper’s early struggles in Dallas

Of course, there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Prosper struggled in his first two seasons in Dallas, averaging 3.0 points per game on 38.5 percent shooting as a rookie and 3.9 points per game on 40.2 percent as a sophomore. His game showed little development, and his role appeared limited to providing energy off the bench.

Meanwhile, Exum revived his career in Dallas, averaging 7.8 points and 2.9 assists per game in a reserve role during his comeback season, which coincided with an NBA Finals run. He followed that up by averaging 8.7 points and 2.8 assists, despite playing just 20 games due to injuries.

Letting Prosper go to make room for Exum seemed like the right call at the time. Looking back, it was anything but that.

Why Exum made sense over Prosper at the time

Dallas had no way of predicting that Exum would require a second knee surgery, cutting his season short just months after signing. The bigger mistake, however, was letting Prosper go too soon under Nico Harrison’s watch.

After trading Luka Doncic at the 2025 deadline and losing Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL shortly after, the Mavericks were dangerously thin in the backcourt. With D'Angelo Russell, former two-way signee Brandon Williams, and undrafted Ryan Nembhard as the only options, signing Exum made perfect sense.

Still, this wasn’t the Mavericks team we knew with Doncic and Irving. Expectations were modest. Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg looked like a strong duo, but the team seemed destined for around 40 wins. Looking back, we know better, but at the time, hope remained.

Even as a team projected for around 40 wins, Dallas shouldn’t have prioritized short-term backcourt stability over an ascending talent. That’s obvious now, with the Mavericks on pace to finish near 25 wins, but it was clear even last summer.

How Dallas missed out on Prosper’s upside

Prosper never really got the opportunity to prove his first-round talent. Drafted to a team that made the NBA Finals in his rookie year, he was buried behind the likes of Derrick Jones Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, and Grant Williams, then later shuffled behind P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes, and Max Christie.

On a team with championship-level aspirations, there wasn’t room for Prosper. Once he landed in Memphis (a team that knew its direction), he began to produce. Prosper’s points per game have increased each month with the Grizzlies, showing just how effective he can be. His rapid progress even earned him a conversion from a two-way contract to a standard deal in March.

As a long, 6-foot-7, athletic wing, Prosper would have been a perfect complement for Flagg and a potential long-term answer at the four. A low-usage, 3-and-D wing, the type every team craves, he still had two years and only $8 million remaining on his rookie deal. Yet Dallas passed, opting for a minor backcourt addition over a player with clear upside.