The Dallas Mavericks hired Masai Ujiri to lead the front office, and he will get a unique chance that he's never really had before.
On Monday, the Dallas Mavericks hired Masai Ujiri to take over as team president and governor, finally giving the team a concrete and permanent leader after Nico Harrsion was fired earlier in the season.
Ujiri last led the Toronto Raptors' front office from 2013 to 2025, winning a championship in 2019. He is best known for pulling the trigger on the Kawhi Leonard deal, trading franchise icon DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for the eventual Finals MVP.
However, as that 2019 roster aged and signed elsewhere, the Raptors struggled to rebuild. As OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam found success elsewhere after Ujiri traded them, ownership grew restless, and patience ran out.
Ujiri is widely recognized as one of the best presidents and general managers in the NBA, and he will get a chance to start from scratch in Dallas.
How Mavs Offered Ujiri a Rare Chance
In Ujiri's first season with the Raptors back in 2013-14, the team went 48-34. They would make the playoffs in eight of his 12 seasons, leading the way, and their lottery picks were few and far between.
In fact, during his tenure, the Raptors only picked in the lottery three times, picking Jakob Poeltl ninth in 2016, Scottie Barnes fourth in 2021, and Gradey Dick 13th in 2023. Ujiri's biggest draft accomplishments were picking Anunoby and Siakam late in the first round.
The Mavericks, heading into the offseason, boast the eighth-best odds at the top pick and are incredibly likely to pick in the top nine. Most of Ujiri's career thus far was spent finding diamonds in the rough, but he will have a much bigger talent pool this summer to choose from.
Add in Khris Middleton's expiring contract, the trade rumors surrounding Daniel Gafford and Klay Thompson, and the core centered on Cooper Flagg, and Ujiri is in a very similar position to the one he found himself in back in 2013. It took him a while to reach the promised land, but his teams quickly became a fixture of the postseason.
Armed with draft capital and some cap flexibility, the Mavericks--for the first time in a while--are in good, experienced hands.