The Dallas Mavericks have landed their new director of basketball operations.
The Dallas Mavericks are hiring Masai Ujiri as the team's new president and alternate governor, according to reports.
The hiring officially puts a permanent replacement in charge of basketball operations following former general manager Nico Harrison's firing in November. Veteran executives Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley served as co-interim GMs following Harrison's termination.
Ujiri comes to Dallas with championship experience. He was the executive vice president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors from 2013-2025 and helped the franchise win its first NBA championship in 2019. Ujiri was named the NBA's Executive of the Year in 2013.
"I'm honored to join the Dallas Mavericks and step into this role at such an important time for the organization," Ujiri said in a statement.
"This is a franchise with a proud history, passionate fans, and a commitment to winning. I look forward to working with our players, coaches, and leadership team to build something that reflects that standard and competes at the highest level.
"We will win in Dallas."
The Mavericks' decision to hire a new leader comes in the midst of the NBA Playoffs, where it was reported that team governor and co-owner Patrick Dumont was believed to be interested in several candidates who held other positions around the NBA.
"The Dallas Mavericks are committed to being a world-class organization with a strong culture and focused on winning championships," Dumont said, via the Dallas Morning News.
"Masai Ujiri is one of the great basketball leaders of this generation and his addition to our franchise is a critical step in meeting our goals. We are honored to have him join the Mavs family. We welcome his energy and determination along with his leadership, experience and many accomplishments as a basketball executive. We are very excited about the future of our team."
Ujiri and the Raptors agreed to part ways on June 27, 2025, and now is back in an NBA front office. Most recently, Ujiri was involved in the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo, one of the WNBA's expansion franchises that is beginning its debut season in 2026.
According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Ujiri aims to launch a coaching mentorship program through the new franchise called "Tempo Rising" that "supports emerging women-identifying and non-binary coaches at an introductory level through exclusive access to mentorship, professional development, and hands-on coaching experiences."
When Ujiri was named within the ownership group just over a month ago, he detailed what life has been like in his year out of the NBA.
"It's been extremely busy," Ujiri said. "I was able to focus on my family. I went from having a driver for 12 years because I'm always on the phone, to now being an Uber driver for my kids. They're in sports and they take them to this practice, take them to that."
Ujiri, a native of Nigeria, also shared about his recent work in Africa.
"And then I've been working on facilities and infrastructure on the continent. We just completed the sports city [in Rwanda] and now I'm doing things with the U.N. in the Sahel [region of north-central Africa]," he said. "And we're going to open in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania in a few weeks. We made a pledge to build the sports complexes, and they're absolutely incredible."
Now, upon his return to the NBA, Ujiri, 55, will inherit a Mavericks roster that features one of the league's brightest stars in Cooper Flagg, the recently-crowned NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2025-26 campaign.
The timing of Ujiri's hiring is also critical, with the NBA Draft Lottery scheduled for May 10. Dallas is expected to receive a high lottery pick in 2026, the last the Mavs have complete control of their first-round selection until the 2031 season.
Flagg emergence and the return of key injured starters like Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II - along with Ujiri's experience building a championship team - grow the belief that the Mavs can return to contention in the 2026-27 season.
Dallas' decision to hire a new leader comes in the midst of the NBA Playoffs, where it was reported that team governor and co-owner Patrick Dumont was believed to be interested in several candidates who held other positions around the NBA.