{"id":618387,"date":"2026-04-21T08:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618387\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:07:20","slug":"first-from-montreal-to-be-drafted-in-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618387\/","title":{"rendered":"First from Montreal to be drafted in WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">On Saturday, the Washington Mystics announced its training camp roster for the 2026 WNBA season. That roster included the first-ever Montrealer drafted in the WNBA, and the latest talent from an incredible local family of hardcourters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Cassandre Prosper averaged 8.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in her last season with Notre Dame and the Mystics selected her 19th overall (round two, pick four) in the entry draft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m so proud of the woman that I\u2019ve become and to start this chapter today, it\u2019s been a beautiful day,\u201d she said at the WNBA draft news conference, where she began answering questions by correcting the reporter\u2019s pronunciation of her name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cCassandre [Ka-sand],\u201d she said. \u201cOr you can call me \u2018Cass\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6M4MMY5OVBFGNP2Y7ZDXNHL3BA.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>WNBA Draft Basketball Notre Dame guard Cassandre Prosper poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected 19th overall by the Washington Mystics in the second round of the WNBA basketball draft Monday, April 13, 2026, in New York. (Pamela Smith\/The Associated Press) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The six-foot-three guard is Memphis Grizzlies power forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who just finished his third NBA season. Their father, Gaetan, moved to Montreal from Haiti as a child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Both their father and mother, Guylaine Blanchette, were all-star Concordia University ballers in college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Like her mother, Cassandre has experience playing with and against pros, having been a part of the Canadian National Team since she was 17 years old. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cNow it\u2019s about transferring all the knowledge I have from my teammates and then from playing against high-calibre players to the W,\u201d she said, wearing a stunning silver suit designed by her cousin Melodie Romain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cShe just styled me completely,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a special moment, something that I get to live once in my life, so this is the occasion to put something flashy for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The 20-year-old went to school in Ottawa before committing to play at Notre Dame in 2022.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/F555IOSAIZC5TGSRA7D3THTXDA.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>NCAA Notre Dame UConn Basketball Notre Dame guard Cassandre Prosper (8) drives to the basket against UConn guard Azzi Fudd during the first half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (LM Otero\/The Associated Press) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Mystics are coming off a 16-28 season that ended with a miserable 10 straight losses to miss the playoffs for the second straight season. Cassandre is one of 12 rookies at the Mystics training camp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In college, she was the 2025-26 ACC Most Improved Player and made the All-ACC Second Team. She was also on Cheryl Miller\u2019s top 10 watch list and improved in all categories throughout her three years as a college player.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to know myself very well throughout my college career and just having the trust that I am exactly where I\u2019m supposed to be and all the adversary I\u2019m facing is leading me right where my journey is supposed to be,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, the Washington Mystics announced its training camp roster for the 2026 WNBA season. That roster included&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[712,49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-618387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}