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Chris Boucher’s life could change forever Thursday night when the NBA Draft is held in New York.

The 6-foot-10 centre from the University of Oregon, who grew up in Montreal, is expected to be among the players selected, projected by most mock drafts as a late second-round pick.

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It has been an incredible journey for the 24-year-old to reach this point.

Boucher only started playing organized basketball five years ago when some of his friends in Montreal North invited him to play in the annual Hang Time tournament in Little Burgundy. Boucher’s team got blown out by a Brookwood Elite squad, but Boucher scored 44 points and was spotted by coaches Igor Rwigema and Ibrahim Appiah, who were in the process of starting up the Alma Academy, the first French basketball academy in North America. They offered him a spot and after two years in Alma, Boucher left for the U.S., playing with New Mexico Junior College before transferring after his freshman season to Northwest College in Wyoming, where he was named the NJCAA Division I player of the year. That resulted in a scholarship offer from the Oregon Ducks, where Boucher played the past two seasons.