Does Masai Ujiri want to stay in the NBA? Ex-Raptors exec may have loftier goals
One of the best front-office executives in the NBA just it the open market.
Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors have parted ways.
Ujiri had the title of vice chairman and team president and was the Raptors' alternate governor. Not only did he have a significant impact on roster construction that led to Toronto's 2019 championship, he was influential when it came to league matters at large.
If a team is looking for an executive to lead the next phase of operations at a high level with a track record of success, Ujiri is the answer.
However, is that what Ujiri wants to do next with his life? He has opportunities in and out of basketball that don't involve the NBA directly.
I've always thought the Ujiri may want to have an impact on society beyond basketball: politics, or another type of public service; expanding his Giants of Africa foundation; other charitable organizations. I wondered if New York or Washington, D.C. might be one of his next stops, even if it wasn't with an NBA team. Being that close to powerful people and organizations makes sense.
Ujiri is smart, thoughtful, savvy in the best ways and is well connected. If Ujiri wanted to text Barack Obama right now, he could.
He has choices and his next step will be fascinating.
Ujiri's Giants of Africa provides basketball instruction and mentorship of youth in Africa and hosts camps across the continent, and earlier this year, he had the first Giants of Africa camp in Ethiopia and late in 2024, he had the first camp in Gabon. He also has a specific basketball camp for big men – 6-foot-8 and taller.
He has official and unofficial roles in helping the NBA's international growth in Canada and Africa. When Ujiri joined the Raptors in 2013, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a 14-year-old developing a love of the game in Toronto. Today, Gilgeous-Alexander is a 2025 NBA champion and reigning regular-season and NBA Finals MVP.
Ujiri is not single-handedly responsible for the basketball explosion in Canada, but he understands the landscape and was influential. He had an official role with the NBA's Basketball Without Borders and the Basketball Africa League.
Ujiri doesn't have to decide now. He had one year remaining on his contract, and it's known throughout the league that the Raptors and ownership Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment are more than fair with compensation.
Teams will call Ujiri, and he will be wise to listen. But there may be other, more important endeavors on his agenda.
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Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg didn't wait for Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to break the silence with an opening statement as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft was introduced to a packed Dallas news conference. 'Hello,' Flagg said about the time the clock struck noon Friday. The 18-year-old former Duke star only grew more comfortable from there, two days after walking across the stage in Brooklyn to be greeted by Commissioner Adam Silver. Flagg was deferential to the history of European stars Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic — the latter being the generational talent traded in February, before the Mavs magically landed the potential of their next face of the franchise despite just a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery. The Associated Press men's college player of the year quickly declared his love for Mexican food and barbecue — the same question all the Texas newcomers get — and easily rattled off Mount Rushmores for the NBA, and the WNBA. For those wondering, Flagg's NBA picks were Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and he appropriately skipped the last names of the last two. The WNBA choices were Candace Parker, Brittney Griner, A'ja Wilson and, after a brief pause to think, Caitlin Clark, 'because she's changed the game so much.' Of course, Flagg is about to join quite a collection of names in Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson, all three with NBA titles on their resumes. Although fellow Duke alum Irving won't join Flagg on the court until possibly January as the nine-time All-Star recovers from a torn ACL, the Mavs are expecting a return to the playoffs after falling short in 2025, a year after Irving and Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals, where the Mavs lost to Boston in five games. Throw in third-year player Dereck Lively II — another ex-Duke player, and one who visited Flagg going into his only season with the Blue Devils last fall — and there are plenty of reasons to believe Flagg gets a softer landing than many top picks who end up in rebuilding situations. 'He's very lucky to have veterans, future Hall of Famers,' said coach Jason Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard who was the second overall choice by the Mavericks 31 years ago. 'When you talk about Kai and Klay and then AD, just understanding the vets are going to protect him and help him, and they're going to push him.' Flagg flew to Dallas with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont and both of their families. Among those at the team's practice facility near American Airlines Center was Mark Cuban, the high-profile former owner who sold a majority stake a year and a half ago to the Las Vegas-based Adelson and Dumont families and is now alternate governor. So was Mark Aguirre, the other No. 1 overall pick by Dallas in 1981. The 65-year-old was just a few seats from Shawn Marion, who played with Nowitzki on the franchise's only championship team in 2011. That row also included Rolando Blackman, a former player who represented the Mavs when they won the draft lottery. It was the first time in franchise history that Dallas had moved up in the lottery. Nearly the entire history of the 45-year-old franchise was represented when Flagg was asked about following Nowitzki, who has a statue outside the arena, and Doncic, whose departure was a heartbreaker for countless Mavs fans who no doubt got a boost with the arrival of the third one-and-done Duke player on the Dallas roster. 'I'm coming in just trying to learn and trying to get better every single day,' Flagg said. 'And I think if I can do that to the best of my ability, I think expectations and pressures that other people will put on me and our team, that will kind of work itself out. So I'm just trying come in and be the best that I can be and just win at the highest level.' The 6-foot-9 Flagg's position is one of the more intriguing questions on the court, and the Mavs will have a void at point guard until Irving returns. 'I want to put him at the point guard,' said Kidd, who sat to Flagg's left on a stage, with Harrison on his right. 'I want to make him uncomfortable and see how he reacts.' There wasn't anything that made Flagg look uncomfortable on his first day in Dallas as a Mav. ___ AP NBA:
