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Mystics guard Cassandre Prosper.
\n Stephanie Scarbrough\/AP\n <\/p>\n
Olivier-Maxence Prosper, now a forward with the Memphis Grizzlies, struggled to recall a game in which his parents were upset with him because of a bad shooting night or foul trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really only got us for mistakes on effort,\u201d Prosper said. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t put in effort, that\u2019s when they got mad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Prosper children have become the first Canadian siblings to play in both leagues, and they still get texts full of feedback from their parents after every game. Olivier-Maxence said most of his mother\u2019s comments will be about plays where he failed to crash the boards or didn\u2019t hustle hard enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this day, they\u2019re always coaching effort,\u201d Cassandre Prosper, who now plays for the Mystics, said.<\/p>\n
Lesson No. 2: Versatility Over Specialization<\/p>\n
Before he was the father of two professional basketball players, Larry Parker was a small forward at Iowa in the 1970s trying to get more playing time. Parker had a good feel for the game and could pass but wasn\u2019t an elite shooter or playmaker, which hindered his ability to regularly get on the court. His oldest son, Anthony, said his father used his reputation as a defensive stopper as a ticket to more playing time.<\/p>\n
Larry went on to have three kids, and when they took up the game, he wanted their careers to look different from his.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was determined to make us versatile enough to where no matter what situation we ran into, we wouldn\u2019t just fall back into one thing,\u201d Anthony Parker said.<\/p>\n
Larry trained all three kids the same way \u2014 prioritizing fundamentals and teaching them a little bit of everything, from shooting to post ups to ballhandling. The goal was to ensure they didn\u2019t have a weakness, giving their coaches little reason to take them out. Anthony grew to be 6-foot-6, his dad\u2019s height, and played nine years in the NBA before becoming a front office executive.<\/p>\n
His sister, Candace, had a much different career. Considered one of the greatest women\u2019s basketball players of all time, she won three WNBA championships with three different teams and two NCAA titles at Tennessee, excelling with a skill set rarely seen in a player of her size.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s 6-foot-4 and basically the height of a center in the women\u2019s game,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cBut you add in the fact that she can do all of the things guards and wings can do, and that\u2019s what set her apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Candace Parker speaks during her induction ceremony at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in August. One summer, Candace Parker recalled her dad coming up to her with a simple message: \u201cYou should get better with your left hand.\u201d<\/p>\n So Candace spent her summer doing a little bit of everything with her left hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI can remember eating with my left hand one summer,\u201d Candace said. \u201cI remember brushing my teeth with my left hand, doing [left-handed] push-ups during commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaetan Prosper posed a question to his kids that was similar to Larry Parker\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cHow can you always be an asset on the court?\u201d he would ask them.<\/p>\n The Prospers had their kids play every position on the court when they were growing up, even if it wasn\u2019t a natural fit. At minimum, they would understand the roles and responsibilities each position required and know how to play off it.<\/p>\n At Notre Dame, Cassandre Prosper was one of the most multidimensional players Niele Ivey ever coached. In her senior year, she averaged 13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, stuffing the stat sheet while leading the Irish to their first Elite Eight in years. Ivey said Prosper operated like a professional and understood the game at a level few college players can relate to.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving parents who played at the highest level, they understood what it takes to be a separator,\u201d Ivey said.<\/p>\n In 1997, Angela Jaquez tried out for the upstart Los Angeles Sparks ahead of the WNBA\u2019s maiden season. Her professional dreams ended there, but this past spring, she became the latest parent to have a kid in each league after her daughter, Gabriela, was drafted by the Chicago Sky. She joined Jamie Jr., who plays for the Bucks after starting his career with the Heat.<\/p>\n Both Angela and her husband, Jamie Sr., were standouts at Concordia University Irvine and coached Jamie Jr. and Gabriela as kids.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to be able to pass and dribble, to be able to run a play, so that was what we focused on,\u201d Angela Jacquez said.<\/p>\n She said they started having their kids watch film as early as elementary school to teach them about the flow of the game and show them ways they could move without the ball to help their teams win. They didn\u2019t begin teaching the kids proper shooting form until they thought they were strong enough \u2014 a practice that NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson\u2019s father, Rick, a former NBA player himself, also applied.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing the little things is going to lead to big results,\u201d Angela Jaquez said. \u201cEverybody wants flashy plays. Those can happen, but you have to do the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n Lesson No. 3: Competition Helps Everyone<\/p>\n When Elizabeth Williams was at Duke, she made history as the first player ever to win ACC Defensive Player of the Year four consecutive years.<\/p>\n But when she came home to Virginia Beach, her defensive genius within her family was waning. Elizabeth is eight years older than Mark, which put him in middle school during his older sister\u2019s historic run. Around that time, he outgrew her 6-foot-3 frame en route to his current height of 7 feet. (He now plays center for the Phoenix Suns.) Their one-on-one games ended shortly after.<\/p>\n \u201cShe would play me when I wasn\u2019t the player I am<\/a>,\u201d Mark said in a joint interview with his sister last year. \u201cShe knew she was gonna win.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was probably 6-8 [when he won],\u201d Elizabeth replied. \u201cLet\u2019s be real.\u201d<\/p>\n That competitive dynamic prevailed across every set of siblings interviewed for this story. While parents emphasized different aspects of the game, their kids applied the teachings against each other until one sibling outgrew the other.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was even in the beginning,\u201d Julian Reese, who is 6-foot-10, said. \u201cBut towards the end I was just winning.\u201d<\/p>\n Lauren Betts is one of the tallest players in the WNBA at 6-foot-7. She dominated games against her brother when he was little.<\/p>\n \u201cDylan, when he was small, the girls would kind of beat him up,\u201d Michelle Betts, Lauren\u2019s mother, said. \u201cAnd it was really upsetting for him. But as he got bigger, I feel like it was three or four years ago where they were like, \u2018We can\u2019t beat Dylan anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The shift in competitiveness against her brother has given Betts a new perspective. Given her height, she was always used to being the tallest one on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like going against my brother is crazy to see how other people feel going against me,\u201d Betts said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like karma.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"BASKETBALL:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792143260_216_.jpeg\")
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\n Mingo Nesmith\/Icon Sportswire\/AP\n <\/p>\n
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