New Dallas Mavericks team president Masai Ujiri addresses an introductory news conference on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dallas.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Remember when Eddie Chiles fired Don Zimmer, then asked him to manage the Rangers for three more games because, well, he was Eddie Chiles?
Masai Ujiri can top that.
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The Mavs’ new president ran Toronto’s draft last year a month after he’d been canned.
Get this: He asked if he could stay, and the Raptors’ brass was like, sure, why not? Makes you think the Mavs might have gotten the right man at that.
Now, it says something that Ujiri would not only want to stay on, but also found a defensive gem in Collin Murray-Boyles with the ninth pick. He might have been their best big man in the playoffs this spring. I mean, if they’d just fired me, and they were foolish enough to let me back in the building, I’d have traded the pick for Dwight Powell. But, again, that’s me.
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An even better testimonial to Ujiri’s character: The Raptors were only too happy to keep him around a little longer.
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Keith Pelley, CEO of the enterprise that owns the Raptors, explained it this way to reporters last year, calling the draft, in particular, Ujiri’s “passion” and “expertise.”
“We were grateful to have him as the person . . . leading our draft,” Pelley added.
If they liked him so much, it might make you wonder why they fired him. Drafting is sort of a big deal for NBA teams. So important that it’s one of the reasons Patrick Dumont hired Ujiri and his general manager, Mike Schmitz, in the first place. This summer’s draft is considered even better than last year’s. At nine, the same place he found Murray-Boyles, Ujiri needs to pick someone who will make at least as much of an impact on the Mavs as Murray-Boyles made on the Raptors in his rookie season.
Speaking of which: Bummer that the Mavs’ lottery pick didn’t fall in the top six, where they were sure to get one of the top point guards in the draft. They may still get a good one at nine, but he’ll likely come with a caveat. Like Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. Our Tim Cowlishaw vouches for him, and there’s a lot to like. Just the same, a 20-year-old with a bad back gives me the willies.
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Anyway, the reason the Raptors fired Ujiri? Not exactly clear nearly a year later. Pelley, who called it his decision, said it was simply time for a change. Toronto has made the playoffs just three times since winning it all in 2019. Didn’t get past the first round in two of those trips.
Toronto’s recent playoff flops might have had something to do with Kawhi Leonard leaving for his hometown of Los Angeles after his one-and-done season north of the border. Ujiri famously traded DeMar DeRozan to the Spurs to get Leonard. Even if he was just a rental, it was worth it.
Flags fly forever, right?
Toronto’s lack of playoff success since then, however, no doubt played a part in Ujiri’s dismissal. He didn’t do a great job managing the Raptors’ salary cap, either.
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Though it might have been his salary that offended Toronto’s owners more than any of the players’.
Back in 2021, when Ujiri signed an extension that reportedly made him the NBA’s highest-paid executive at $15 million a year, one of the organization’s big shots, Edward Rogers, chairman of Rogers Communications, reportedly called to tell him he wasn’t worth the money. Ujiri was so offended, according to the Toronto Star, he considered taking a year off.
The good news is, where Dumont comes from, money piles up on tables. Paying Ujiri won’t be an issue. Nor should it. By any measure, he’s a significant upgrade at the position.
Hiring someone who’s won a title doesn’t guarantee he’ll do the same for you, but it’s the way to bet. The Mavs tried a shoe salesman, and look what that got them.
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In sports, as in trail guides, it’s recommended to go with someone who’s been where you’re trying to get.
The Mavs also wanted someone who could be the face of the franchise, a job previously held by Mark Cuban. They got just that in Ujiri, the rare front-office executive with a big personality. So big, in fact, that he made himself a celebrity in Toronto.
One report after his dismissal even called him “beloved” for promising, then delivering, Canada’s first and only NBA title.
Front-office types have come and gone in my 40-plus years at SportsDay, but I can’t recall any who might be termed “beloved.” Jim Nill is a world-class nice guy. Tom Grieve, too. Same with Norm Sonju. But beloved? I wouldn’t go that far with any of them.
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Wouldn’t even walk next to some, at least not within a stone’s throw of the public.
For the most part, general managers get too much of the blame and hardly any of the glory. Makes you wonder why anyone would want to do it. Except Jerry Jones, of course, but then he’s got himself a lifetime deal.