The new Mavericks boss spoke about the moment the franchise veered off course. He focused on redirecting the topic to the team's new trajectory and young star.
Before he was even probed with a question, Masai Ujiri clarified one of his objectives in taking the job as the Dallas Mavericks' new president of basketball operations.
"Listen, I hope to bring calm," Ujiri said at his introductory press conference. "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."
Ujiri's remarks, of course, stem from the dramatic events that have altered the state of the Mavericks roster and organization since the team was in the NBA Finals nearly two years ago.
Once Ujiri was questioned about the Luka Doncic trade - the pinnacle event that led to Ujiri's predecessor, Nico Harrison, being fired months later - he offered a respectful response that represented both sides.
"I want to be very respectful for everyone here, and yes, there is a healing process with that. Luka is a future Hall-of Famer," Ujiri said. "That's the past. We say in Africa, 'When kings go, kings come.' A king went, and we have a little prince here that we're going to turn into a king."
There had been very little "calm" in the months following the trade. Had Dallas not lucked into a miracle draft pick, who knows where the state of things would be.
Ujiri, a native of Nigeria, walks into one of the more interesting situations in professional basketball. On one hand, he's being asked questions regarding arguably the most one-sided transaction in modern sports history still affecting his new team, and on the other, he inherits one of the game's most promising young players in new Rookie of the Year, Cooper Flagg.
But when it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers star Doncic, whom the Mavs as an organization wrongfully attempted to wipe from the team's history in the aftermath of his trade, Ujiri offered a refreshing sense of grace.
"He is a Hall-of-Fame player; he's gone. He'll always be a Maverick. We'll celebrate him in the best possible way, like we're going to celebrate all the Maverick players and stars that have been here."
READ MORE: Inside Masai Ujiri's Championship History
Following his praise, he uttered a concept Mavs coach Jason Kidd had stated earlier in the season after Harrison was fired.
"We really have to move on," the executive said. "It's not for me to start criticizing what anyone else is doing; it's for me to criticize what I am doing... If I continue harping on that, then I think all of you are going to be asking what I am doing. I have to look to the future, because winning is what we have to do here."
Doncic's trade has left an impression on the Mavs fan base that might never be repaired, but team governor Patrick Dumont's willingness to begin righting the wrongs (firing Harrison, the interim administration trading Anthony Davis, and hiring a new frontman) has put the organization in better place than it once was.
Like Ujiri said, it helps having a new generational talent to rebuild around.
Now, it'll be up to the MFFLs to determine how gracefully they take Ujiri's message (or at least the moral of it) to heart.
