Latest news with #Ujiri
Edmonton Journal
15-05-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Don't bet on Masai Ujiri bailing on Raptors despite interest from Atlanta Hawks
Article content 'It was not immediately clear, league sources say, what sort of shot Atlanta has at prizing Ujiri away from the Raptors.' The Hawks fired ex-Raptor Landry Fields as general manager last month and hired Onsi Saleh as his replacement. Saleh, who was born in Texas but grew up in Edmonton and went to the University of Alberta, has a background in basketball strategy and the team is looking for an experienced president to run all operations. Ujiri certainly would fit the bill and, while his latest contract extension with the Raptors has been reported by Sportsnet to end after next season, it seems highly unlikely that he would leave for anything less than an absolutely plum job, if at all. That's not Atlanta, a franchise that has missed the playoffs two straight years, has two conference final appearances and has not reached the NBA Finals since 1971.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hawks Reportedly Interested in 1x Champion Executive
The Atlanta Hawks are exploring their options in finding a replacement for a new president of basketball operations. After the 2024-25 NBA season, the Hawks let Landry Fields go after five years of being the organization's general manager. Following that, the team promoted Onsi Saleh as the replacement for Fields. Still, they'll need someone new to take over the role of team president. One of Atlanta's biggest prospects for the position is Masai Ujiri. He's been the longtime executive for the Toronto Raptors and has made significant moves to make the franchise a success. Advertisement According to Marc Stein, the Hawks have taken an interest in acquiring the Raptors' vice chairman and president. Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman and Team President Masai Ujiri speaks to the mediaJohn E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images Amid the Hawks' search for a new executive, there have been reports that the franchise aims to "hire a top, experienced executive." "The Atlanta Hawks have interest in trying to hire Toronto's Masai Ujiri as their new president of basketball operations, league sources tell The Stein Line. It was not immediately clear, league sources say, what sort of shot Atlanta has at prizing Ujiri away from the league's lone Canadian franchise," Stein reported. Ujiri took charge of one of the league's best trades. He traded the Raptors' best player (at the time), DeMar DeRozan, for San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard. Although Leonard only played in Toronto for one season, it turned out to be fruitful after they won the 2019 NBA Championship over the Golden State Warriors. Advertisement Since then, Ujiri has made respectable moves over the seasons, like drafting Scottie Barnes and trading for RJ Barrett. However, the executive has not given any indication about potentially leaving Toronto. Related: Hawks Veteran Has Positive Prediction on Rookie Forward's NBA Career
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Raptors' Masai Ujiri Facing Major Decision After News on Wednesday
The Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals, but it's been all downhill from there. They made the Eastern Conference Semifinals the following year and haven't won a series since. The current Raptors are a mix of new and old faces from top to bottom. They still have Masai Ujiri, who built the championship squad as general manager and executive vice president, in the front office. The 2013 NBA Executive of the Year is now the team president and vice chairman, while Bobby Webster is the general manager. Webster was Ujiri's first hire in 2013. Advertisement However, Toronto might have another shakeup upstairs, via Marc Stein. Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman and Team President Masai Ujiri.© John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images "The [Atlanta] Hawks have expressed interest in trying to hire Masai Ujiri away from Toronto, league sources tell The Stein Line," he reported. Atlanta wants Ujiri to be its president of basketball operations. "It was not immediately clear, league sources say, what sort of shot Atlanta has at prizing Ujiri away from the league's lone Canadian franchise, which won the only championship in franchise history in 2018-19 after Ujiri boldly traded for Kawhi Leonard when the former San Antonio Spur had only one year left on his contract," Stein wrote in his story. Advertisement While Ujiri and Webster have been in the organization for years, head coach Darko Rajakovic arrived in 2023, as did guards RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. Barrett led the Raptors with 21.1 points per game this past season. The team drafted franchise centerpiece Scottie Barnes in 2021, but it acquired veteran star Brandon Ingram at the 2024-25 trade deadline. Related: Raptors' Masai Ujiri Reacts to Unexpected Scottie Barnes Message Related: Raptors GM Sends Clear Message Before NBA Draft
Hamilton Spectator
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
The long wait for Cooper Flagg will end for all but one NBA team in a five-minute draft lottery Monday
CHICAGO—The Raptors have been building patiently over a loss-dominated two-year period. Trades have been made, drafts have been conducted, moves have been accomplished. The next and perhaps most important step will happen in a lighting-quick five-minute period in a Chicago convention centre Monday evening. The NBA lottery will determine the order of selection for the June 25 draft. The lottery determines the first four picks, with a series of four digits deciding those slots. Each draw is precisely timed at 50 seconds. Four draws, less than five minutes, the fates of 14 non-playoff teams sealed. The Raptors were 30-52 last season, seventh worst in the league, and have a 7.5 per cent chance of moving into the top spot and a 31.9 per cent chance of picking in the top four. The best chance (34.1 per cent) is that they will fall to eighth; there is a 19.7 per cent chance Toronto will keep the seventh selection. When the Spurs upset the Warriors on Wednesday, it clarified Toronto's lottery chances of The Raptors are hoping for at least the same luck they had the last time they were seventh going into a lottery. They moved up from seventh to fourth in 2021 and chose eventual rookie of the year Scottie Barnes . The Raptors are bringing out the big guns take part in the half-hour long television show. President and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri is expected to be the team's onstage representative for the show with general manager Bobby Webster watching the actual draw in a sealed room away from the stage. Webster will know the outcome about an hour before Ujiri and the public get the result but he will be locked away — with representatives from each of the other lottery teams, several league officials and media witnesses — until the top pick is unveiled around 7:30 p.m. ET. The 18-year-old Flagg, who leads the Blue Devils into Saturday's NCAA Final Four, is a deadbolt The prize this year is six-foot-10 Duke University forward Cooper Flagg , who is the consensus No. 1 selection. The group behind him is heavy on wings and guards: Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey of Rutgers, Baylor's VJ Edgecombe and Tre Johnson of Texas. Many of them seem to duplicate young players the Raptors already have. Ujiri said early in the off-season that the construction of the current roster won't drive whatever selection the Raptors take. 'Wherever we fall, we're going to go for the best talent available,' he said. 'I know it's the answer everybody gives — or maybe we give — but it's a unique draft and we feel that we will have a talented player available, and we'll try to get one that fits our ball club. 'Yeah, we need another young big, we would definitely look at that, but maybe it's not really focused on that … There are a lot of talented kids I see in the draft.' The teams with the three worst records in the regular season — Utah, Washington and Charlotte — have a 14 per cent chance of winning the No. 1 pick. New Orleans (12.5 per cent), Philadelphia (10.5) and Brooklyn (9) are fourth through sixth. After Toronto, the lottery portion of the draft is: San Antonio (6), Phoenix (3.8), Portland (3.7), Dallas (1.8), Chicago (1.7), Sacramento (0.8) and Atlanta (0.7).
Toronto Star
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Masai Ujiri's charity foundation's eight-day celebration of African culture and basketball in Rwanda prepares youth for life
A multi-pronged festival — an Olympic-style opening ceremony, basketball camps, educational programs, comedy, fashion shows, life skills development — this summer in Rwanda will let Ujiri's Giants of Africa charitable foundation to reach youth at every level.
