At his introductory press conference, Masai Ujiri shared how he prepared himself for this return to the NBA.
Masai Ujiri was officially introduced as the Dallas Mavericks' next president of basketball operations on Tuesday at American Airlines Center.
For the veteran executive, it's the return to an NBA front office after spending this past season focused on other projects. Ujiri previously was the general manager of the Toronto Raptors from 2013 to 2025 and helped the franchise win its only championship in 2019.
Upon his return with the Mavs, Ujiri frequently emphasized his motivation: to win.
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"To come to this storied organization, the Dallas Mavericks, come back to the NBA, it's a blessing, and I'm honored and humbled to have this very unique opportunity," Ujiri said in his opening statement.
Before he spoke about his ultimate mission, Ujiri said he aims to bring a presence that most would say the organization and its fan base have lacked for the better part of a year and a half.
"Listen, I hope to bring calm," Ujiri said. "We want to get back to winning. This is a winning organization; we want to get back to that. I know the fan base wants that, I know the organization wants that, I know leadership wants that, I know the NBA wants that.
"I know that winning is my drive, and winning is going to be the drive of this organization."
Ujiri and the Raptors mutually parted ways last summer, but his track record speaks for itself. He showed he was unafraid to make tough decisions that ultimately set the team up for success, such as trading franchise icon DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, who would go on to win Finals MVP later that year.
The executive also showed a keen understanding of rebuilding through the draft, with a series of quality selections that re-positioned Toronto back into contention after the Leonard era. He hopes to continue that positive trend in the coming weeks as the Mavs will be included in the NBA Draft Lottery this weekend, which determines their fate for a crucial draft pick later this summer.
Ujiri on How Time Away Prepared Him for Return to NBA
After his time away from the game, Ujiri reflected on what he learned and what he aims to bring to the Mavs as the team's new frontman.
"When you're watching the NBA from afar, and with my exit from Toronto, I really felt that I wanted to take the time to really look and learn some of the things I didn't do so well, or that you do well, you want to learn the nuance of the game, innovate a little bit.
"When I started to think about what this team has, the organization, man, a young player with Cooper Flagg, the veterans on this team, and the base that we have, I thought it was a very unique opportunity here. This was the one I know that attracted me back to the NBA."
Flagg represents a ray of hope that, on the court, the Mavericks can continue to be led by a superstar-caliber player for years to come. Despite the limited draft capital moving forward, Ujiri believes the pieces on the roster are capable of competing at a high level.
The Process of Dallas Hiring Masai Ujiri
Prior to his hiring, team governor and co-owner Patrick Dumont, who shared the podium with Ujiri on Tuesday, first met with the candidate back in December about the vacancy left by Nico Harrison's termination. Dumont explained the lengthy period in which he was determining that Ujiri was the right fit for the job.
"We spent a lot of time in our first meeting talking about life, talking about our values, what we felt was important, charitable work, why Africa was so important to him, the trajectory of where he thought he can take this team. It was a very long, very detailed discussion," Dumont said. "We got to know each other. It was great, and then we continued from there...
"We talked about winning. We talked about the success of the organization, building around Cooper ... and making this team a champion. And we wanted to make sure that it was the right situation for both of us. ... A lot has gone on with the Mavericks the last couple of years. We really needed to talk about it and cover it, and make sure it was a situation made sense for Masai and for us. And the good news is, it did."
