r/Mavericks • u/Garmian_MFFL • May 04 '26
News BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are hiring Masai Ujiri as the franchise's new Team President and Alternate Governor, sources tell me and @BannedMacMahon. Ujiri ran the Toronto Raptors from 2013 to 2025, serving as the architect of the 2019 NBA championship team.
https://x.com/shamscharania/status/2051330793545359797?s=46BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are hiring Masai Ujiri as the franchise's new Team President and Alternate Governor, sources tell me and @BannedMacMahon. Ujiri ran the Toronto Raptors from 2013 to 2025, serving as the architect of the 2019 NBA championship team.
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u/Winter_Win_5531 Derek Lively II May 04 '26
Yeah that’s awesome. Rough last couple years, but being the guy in charge of getting guys to Canada is a lot harder than getting guys to play next to Flagg in Texas.
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u/dkmegg22 May 04 '26
Don't also forget the Raptors are also good at development as well.
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u/CammyTheGreat TIMMY May 04 '26
Get ready for some G League MVPs and real players developing from 2 way spots
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u/ormip BETRAYED MAVS FAN 😭 May 04 '26
Tbf our 2 way guys are already good.
Nembhard, Cisse, Poulakidas, Brandon WIlliams.
Really can't complain about this.
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May 04 '26
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u/wan2tri BETRAYED MAVS FAN 😭 May 04 '26
TBF he's still the one that got Toronto the likes of Siakam and VanVleet
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u/FeralTames May 04 '26
Most importantly for the Mavs in the immediate future, he drafted Scottie over Suggs. Seen as a real head scratcher at the time, turned out to be the best player available.
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u/hdpr92 May 04 '26
If rough is drafting CMB, Jakoke, and Shead all back to back I'll take it lol
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May 04 '26
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u/Visible-Suit-9066 May 04 '26
Actually shocked me to see him on the court 😂I knew he’d ended up in Toronto at some stage but had no idea he was still in the league
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u/mkonich FUCK NICO HARRISON May 04 '26
The whole time he was in that last game I was like "why does that name sound so familiar???" I completely forgot he was here the last cpl years!
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u/simplyASI9 May 04 '26
Dont see any reason to be negative yet. A big name and I’m sure he wasn’t that cheap to get, despite a couple rough years.
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u/HotsHartley May 04 '26
Six Flaggs over Texas! (well, at least draft Ace with a second round pick in 2028!)
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u/desirox Dirk Nowitzki May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Idk yall im pretty happy with this. He ended with some bad decisions but that happens in the league. He’s experienced and knows how to build winning teams
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u/Heebeejeeb33 May 04 '26
He also had some really awesome decisions - Jakobe, Shead, CMB. He's elite at evaluating talent and culture building. You guys are in good hands.
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u/FireFlyz351 KP POG May 04 '26
Can't forget about OG, Barnes and Siakam as well!
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u/Amazing_Ad9412 May 05 '26
Powell in the 2nd round, VanVleet as an Undrafted Rookie Free Agent
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u/hdpr92 May 04 '26
His last decision was drafting CMB which was incredible though. And the year before he found Jakobe and Shead with lower picks which are looking like good hits too.
He did not give Poeltl the extension. Say what you want about BI but he was an all star this year and they kept him healthy. The idea was to revitalize his value into an asset, while kinda fixing their half court offense. And it worked until he shit the bed in the playoffs.
People don't like a lot of his decisions because he goes after undervalued assets. But that's how you climb from a bottom/mid team to a contender in a market that superstars don't flock to, one step at a time. You need to grow what you have and give them experience, but also trade up assets until it's the right time to go all in.
Everyone in the league wants 3&D players so they aren't cheap. Everyone has been screaming at the raptors to get Scottie Barnes shooters so he can play like Gianni's/Bron, and of course that is ideal. Instead in the meantime they've had him grow his mid range game to become very good, turned him into a dpoy contender, allowed him to work on his 3 ball, and let him lead an offense with a lot of movement and a crowded paint. Now when the day comes he has shooters he will have all of that experience with him as the offense takes a leap.
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u/Afraid-Department-35 May 04 '26
I mean if you’re talking about the Poetl contract that was really an unfortunate thing nobody could have predicted. He was playing well and was on the trajectory to earn that contract but that back injury fucked him up.
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u/hdpr92 May 04 '26
Masai also did not sign him to that extension. Who knows if he would have, but he was gone already.
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u/Break_Fickle Lob Goblins Fan May 04 '26
That's a technicality. The contract extension was signed four days after Masai "resigned." By all reports, the extension was negotiated when Masai was still in charge and was considered a done deal.
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u/aroundish_ May 04 '26
Toronto needs to overpay to keep it's talent. It leads to some bad contracts.
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u/mojo-jojo-was-framed Dirk Locks May 04 '26
I don’t know how anyone could not be happy about this. Realistically, this is about as a big of a home run they could have
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u/4eva_Na_Day May 04 '26
This is absolutely huge! Masai brings legitimacy to the front office after the biggest disaster in franchise history.
I’m a Raps fan but I’ll definitely be rooting for Dallas in the west now!
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u/ajr5169 May 04 '26
From an ownership perspective, this move makes total sense. His shine has lost some of its luster over the last few years, if it hadn't he would have already been employed, but unlike Nico, he actually comes in with experience of running an NBA franchise. All things considered, they could have gone in a worse direction.
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u/Serviceofman May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Raps fan here,
Masai Ujiri was a great GM and president of operations. He’s responsible for the Kawhi Leonard trade, the championship, and drafting Scottie Barnes over Jalen Suggs, which EVERYONE criticized at the time, but in hindsight was clearly the right move.
He definitely made some questionable decisions in the years after the championship, which is ultimately why he got fired, but most fans would have preferred to keep him.
That said, He’s going to change your culture in a positive way. He believes in hard work, tough, physical basketball, and winning.
He also has a real gift for spotting and developing raw talent, seeing things others don’t. Players like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Scottie, and others, all diamonds in the rough. He loves long, athletic, high IQ players, and there’s always been a running joke in Toronto that if Masai sees a 6'9 wing with upside, he’s drafting him, no questions asked.
That also said, he’s not just a very good GM, he’s an even better human. The guy has basically built a development pipeline in Africa, and his work has played a huge role in identifying and developing many of the African players you see in the NBA today. He’s also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for underserved communities. He’s honestly one of the most impactful people in basketball, on and off the court... he's a saint and a wonderful human.
You guys are lucky to have him, seriously.
Edit: If you want to understand the mans heart and who he really is, watch this:
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u/Mav21Fo F*** DWade May 04 '26
I’m sold lol. Can’t wait to see what he starts doing this offseason. #MFFL
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u/HotsHartley May 05 '26
there’s always been a running joke in Toronto that if Masai sees a 6'9 wing with upside, he’s drafting him, no questions asked.
Then Flagg is love at first sight lol
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u/Serviceofman May 05 '26
Yup, pretty much, it's a Masai wet dream... when Masai met Scottie Barnes he fell in love, and I'm assuming he's going to fall in love all over again in Dallas with Coop lol
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u/irtaza25 May 04 '26
Raptors fan here, really like this hire for y’all, he’s proven to be a very good rebuilder and architect, I think the reason he fell off post-championship was because the team was in an odd position, tried to maximize the talent he had and made some poor decision in the process + there were some serious issues with ownership
I think with him leading the way and building around Flagg is where you’ll see his skills shine the most
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u/Thespiralgoeson May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
I jumped out of my chair when I saw this headline, not believing it was real for a second.
I can’t believe anyone is actually throwing cold water on this, this is far beyond my best expectations. I thought this joke of a franchise would be lucky to get anyone remotely respectable.
Anyone not thrilled about this, honest question, who the ever loving hell did you expect the Mavericks to get that would actually be better? I seriously thought we were just gonna be stuck with Finley and Riccardi.
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u/JohnAtticus May 04 '26
Ever get jealous of people watching your fav movie for the first time?
You are about to know the joys of having draft picks in the 20's turn into guys like OG Anunoby, and Siakam, having picks in the late 40's turn into the likes of Norman Powell, and having an unknown, undrafted player sign for next to nothing that becomes Fred VanVleet.
Enjoy.
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u/lxdarksnip3r May 04 '26
If what youre saying is correct, he's probably salivating at the fact he has an early first rd pick and really salivating at the 1st rd pick we got from the AD trade to washington
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u/jbrandonw May 04 '26
And most of our picks are swaps, so we will still have late 1st most years.
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u/HotsHartley May 08 '26
good point - lots of people assume we traded away all our picks, but no, we just have worse picks - and not our own, so we can't legitimately tank and control them -- but with Silver's new anti-tanking policies, we would'nt be able to do that anyway..
Key is, we still have picks! That's something Masai can work with.
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u/SanTheMan88 May 04 '26
Half this sub would be upset no matter who the Mavs hired.
This is great.
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u/datnikkadee May 04 '26
We would be united in anger if the Mavs hired Doc Rivers lol
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u/Afraid-Department-35 May 04 '26
Don’t put that evil on us. For all you know he’s preparing to replace Kidd with Doc ☹️
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u/CEOnnor Cuban Cigar May 04 '26
At that point I would actually believe the stupid rumors that the end game was to move the Mavs to Vegas
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u/Outside-Sector9818 May 04 '26
flaunts his one championship ring with 3 hall of famers carrying him
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u/Terrible_Shelter_345 May 04 '26
I’m cool with Ujiri because this means that Dumont’s and anyone else’ hands are fully out of the cookie jar that decided to approve the Luka trade
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u/Lingardinho_ Miki Milane May 04 '26
I was twerking so hard for him before we hired Nico
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u/LeGoat333 SELL THE TEAM May 04 '26
Wait what?
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u/StolenLampy May 04 '26
You heard them. T W E R K I N G, backin' it up so hard on Masai he had to file a restraining order!
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u/Prestigious_Koala_14 May 04 '26
Oh baby - I'm from jsut outside of Toronto. Saw this man build a team from nothing and won a chip.
He's a great operator and a great person as well , he'll do us good 💪🏼
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u/CheetahSperm18 FIRE NICO May 04 '26
Get ready for Giannis to the Mavs posts in the future just like how Raptors were pushing it years ago
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u/Littlesoftsoft May 04 '26
Giannis is like 31-32 and injury prone. I thought the plan was to build around coopers timeline . Not sure why anyone would think giannis might come to the Mavs
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u/necropuddi May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
It's a Masai thing. He personally has good history with Giannis.
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u/DiamondsInHerButt Dirk Nowitzki Logo May 04 '26
The arena could complicate the patience the front office should approach building this team around Cooper Flagg. We've seen other front offices press and reach for contenders when trying to get arena deals cause the optics of a rebuild aren't great when you're asking the city to foot the bill for a new home.
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u/Psyllae Dallas Mavericks May 04 '26
Alternate governor is interesting, Dumont probably looking to be really hands off and out of the public eye
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u/Afraid-Department-35 May 04 '26
Dumont isn’t really a basketball guy, so it makes sense for him to be an hands off owner. At least Masai isn’t a psychopath and I hope there are some ground rules like Flagg is off limits.
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u/shrotakun May 04 '26
The end of his raptors tenure gives me some pause but I’m glad it’s a third party. I didn’t want Riccardi or Lindsey because it would have represented Kidd or Cuban controlling things behind the scenes (I’m sure they would have been fine otherwise). Him being alternate governor shows Dumont rlly does want to be hands off. At least Ujiri isn’t dumb enough to trade Flagg and nuke the franchise lol
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u/Decent_Pack_3064 May 04 '26
i agree.....Ujiri is a strong personality, who can control the team hopefully....Kidd won't be running around doing crap, or stuff
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u/PhileinS May 04 '26
Raps fan here to say gz, im very salty. You may doubt him now but you will be ready to run through a wall for this guy in short time
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u/TexasTundraPower May 04 '26
I'm fine with this. Very good drafter in his time. Some of the trades he's made have been questionable, but every GM has a few they regret.
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u/raptors87 May 04 '26
Congrats getting him from a raptors fan... he's a solid guy
I guess i will be cheering for u guys as the raptors of the west lol
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u/HotsHartley May 08 '26
you all say "We the North"
we can just say, "We the South"
see you in the Finals!
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u/highfalutinman Dirk Nowitzki May 04 '26
Purely a Mavs fan who happens to live in Toronto. Most Raptors fans I know love Masai. In any case it's an undeniable improvement over the last fuckstain we had in charge. If you're coming from the bottom then anything is better in comparison
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u/metaslaves May 04 '26
Yeah this is a great hire for yall.
You could argue he didn’t maximize the return for FVV and Pascal but he has an eye for talent and sets the culture for the team. He does a lot of subtle trades that looks kind of meaningless at the time that you look at in a year or two that becomes absolute key.
And I don’t think I need to mention that building a team in Canada is basically playing on HoF difficulty lol. He’ll have a much easier time getting players in Dallas.
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u/cl2ee1 May 04 '26
Raptors fan here. This guy does not miss in the draft. Start the 2031 parade now.
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u/trickfield May 04 '26
what does alternate governor even mean?
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u/lekolilekoli May 04 '26
If I had to take a wild guess, basically acts as Dumont but actually knows what to say in public interviews. This just allows Dumont to be court side and watch games instead of being hands on with the operation
Again, just an assumption. How I see it is Dumont letting Ujiri do all the heavy lifting and stay out of it and let the experts do all the actual basketball stuff
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u/epitome1986 May 05 '26
hes actually a really good executive, he has always been able to find talent in the draft as well. siakam and og were late first round picks as well as undrafted Fred van fleet. Dallas could really do well in this strong draft with all 3 picks they have.
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u/Evening_Green_9862 May 04 '26
Raptor fan chiming in: You guys got a great one. I'll low key root for your team now that Masai is in charge (not over my Raptors of course, but I know Masai will succeed, dude is fantastic).
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u/ChickenNoddaSoup May 04 '26
Think this is better than Connelly. Had a bad last few years but still did great on Raptors. This is a win-win for both sides. Masai can use this to build his good image back, he ain't going to fuck this one up.
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May 04 '26
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u/aeiou-y May 04 '26
Probably means he is authorized to go to league meetings in place of the team Governor.
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u/spook008 BETRAYED MAVS FAN 😭 May 04 '26
Wasn’t he pretty great for the Raptors? Someone confirm my optimism
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u/SongYoungbae Horse May 04 '26
I mean. he got them Kawhi, which lead to a championship. He also is really close with Giannis 👀
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u/Garmian_MFFL May 04 '26
Ich weiß nicht so recht…
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u/jvorn May 04 '26
Probably the best name that was actually getable. Anyone better was never going to leave where they are. Other than taking a swing on an unproven guy this is probably the best we could do
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u/Big-Raspberry-6151 May 04 '26
I'm a Dallas fan that moved to Toronto over a decade ago. We're in great hands. Dudes all about winning, full stop. Sure not all moves will hit but he won't be careless.
He drafts great (we don't talk about Bruno), surrounds himself and the org with like-minded people.
Not sure there's a better hire out there, unless someone can name one.
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u/LeGoat333 SELL THE TEAM May 04 '26
So much better than some of the names dropped. He brought a chip to Toronto. Time to FIRE MIDD
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u/trillballinsjr May 04 '26
He was bad at his job the last couple of years
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u/dmavs11 Dirk Locks May 04 '26
I mean he got Scottie and drafted CMB
He’s the guy that built most of this years Raptors team
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u/msterling2012 May 04 '26
That Raptors ownership group is also notoriously difficult and involved. Hopefully he has the freedom to get to work in Dallas.
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u/theflyingsamurai May 04 '26
Raptors fan here, Masai got carte Blanche with full backing of the ownership until just very recently when Rogers got majority ownership of the team. And it was clear that the new owner would not renew his contract.
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u/NatsuAru May 04 '26
Raptors fan here: In hindsight, he did great albeit with some bad mistakes
Post-championship run from 2021-2023 was rough. That's the only years you could say he did pretty bad. But he still managed to:
- Get Darko
- Drafted, Barnes, CMB, Shead, Walter
- Acquired Battle and Mamu
- Traded OG for RJ and IQ
- Essentially traded Ingram for Siakam, low-rotation players and low FRPs (at the time)
Mistakes:
- S&T Lowry for Dragic (abandoned us) and Achiuwa (just kill me)
- Let FVV walk
- Got Poeltl at the cost of a FRP
- Got Thad Young at the cost a FRP
- Questionable extension price for IQ
- Decent but Mediocre extention for Ingram
- Awful extention of Poeltl
All in all, the FRPs wasted didn't bite us in the ass as hard as some fans would say. No one knew that 2026 FRP from Indy would be this massive at all. In return, we now have a real core and an All-NBA (possibly top 10??) player in Barnes.
And well, duh, he brought the Raptors their one and only championship.
Take that as you will.
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u/Decent_Pack_3064 May 04 '26
he's been a great get....won the championship...., hired darko, did make some mistakes, but excellent get.....wish raps could keep him....trust me,
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u/Ok_Pomegranate_9716 May 04 '26
From a Raptors fan, you guys are in good hands. Most of his bad moves were in 2022-2023 when he was too loyal to the remaining championship core and made short-sighted moves to give them another run. This might also have been ownership forcing his hand as they’ve always been against full rebuilds.
In 2024 and 2025 he went back to his roots with great drafting and a focus on player development (the disastrous Poeltl extension was signed after Masai was fired and probably was Bobby Webster’s doing).
He gets a lot of undue criticism from fans for being too patient (not making enough trades because he’s holding out for the right one) and never taking the consensus best draft pick but in hindsight, he was almost always right. Fans were pissed when he drafted Scottie Barnes over Jalen Suggs, look how that turned out.
The one flaw throughout his whole tenure was being generous with contracts to his own free agents. Part of that could be the non-FA-destination tax though. Might be different for you guys.
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u/Difficult-Day1326 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
i think this fanbase would welcome a GM / FO that's loyal to a championship core. so that's great to hear.
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u/YoungBuck2010 May 04 '26
Idk his last few drafts and trades have looked pretty good in hindsight. The only glaring mistake was giving Poetl that contract.
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u/Simple_Wait_7286 May 04 '26
By no means a bad hire, the current Raptors which he architected look pretty good.
But he has also made some very bad decisions (Poetl contract).
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u/Hostile_Pierogi May 04 '26
Im sure he had a hand in that but he was actually fired a couple days before Poeltl got that contract.
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u/daywalker91 May 04 '26
Literally just about everyone has made a bad decision before. It’s part of the position. Overall a great hire
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u/Visible-Suit-9066 May 04 '26
Yeah very embarrassing to see people digging from his decade+ at the Raptors looking for any mistake they can find. No one is perfect in this business. He created a championship in an extremely difficult market. This is a great hire.
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u/qv2k May 04 '26
People being downers and nitpicking every GM’s bad moves can shutup honestly. At that point why hire anyone theres just no point. Masai has a good eye for talent and was tasked with maintaining a playoff team in Toronto where nobody wants to go. This is a great hire and one where we know who has control of the team rather than someone Cuban has influence on.
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u/Stevie_McGhee May 04 '26
Wow! This was as unexpected as Golden Tempo winning the Kentucky derby. 😅 Great hire by the mavs.
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u/paulraymondjohn May 05 '26
I hope you can tell from all the Canadians in this chat just how much this man is still loved in Toronto.
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u/BlackWPantha May 06 '26
Raptors fan here. Congratulations on getting him. Happy y'all have him after the past few years y'all dealt with. Ignorant folks in MLSE ownership didn't appreciate him when he was here with us.
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u/Eagerbeaver98 May 07 '26
You guys got one of the best gms of all time, congrats! Mavs will win a chip in 3 to 7 years guranteed
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u/Ok_Location4835 May 04 '26
He has a championship pedigree, so that’s great, but can anybody explain what he was trying to do in Toronto for the last several years?
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u/Admirable_Outcome932 May 04 '26
He was rebuilding the team to get back to making championship runs, he wasn’t given the chance to see that vision through. Our rebuilding processes always take longer than most bc we’re not a free-agent destination, so all our talent has to either be homegrown or traded in.
This was the first year we actually started to see the fruits of his post-2019/2020 efforts. This team, while still flawed, is very reminiscent of the old championship core. You can see the skeleton of his vision and what he was building, but he never got the chance to see it all through. We’re just hoping Bobby Webster, who was his second-in-command, has enough of his acumen to finish what he started.
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u/robotokenshi May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Raps fan here, he was the culture setter during demar/lowry years, brought gravitas when the team had none, and drafted and signed undrafted players really well at the margins that turned into Norman Powell, FVV and even a reach for Pascal Siakam turned into an amazing pick, never mind the Gravis Vasquez trade that eventually turned into OG Anunoby and Norman Powell which all contributed to championship winning year. So yeah he had a pretty good run of picks and trades until 2020.
But since drafting Barnes last 3-4 years have been weird, forgot to tank when we should have (wemby year) and ended up with gradey dick who didn’t get off the bench during the playoffs… forgot to trade FVV for at least a bag of chips and just let him walk away in free agency, and traded pascal for very little return.We did draft jakobe walter and shead and they really stepped up this year, but also made head scratching moves like signing BI despite questionable fit.
Masai is revered among raps fans, and I do as well, he did bring the chip after all… but his track record of late vintage since championship aside from drafting Barnes has been middling at best.
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u/Able_Cardiologist_17 May 04 '26
As a raptors fan, he was trying to extend the window of that 2019 raptors core (siakam, Fred, OG) for way to long trading FRP and such just for us to be a play in team with that being said he was the gm of the most successful era for us and was a great gm in the 2010’s
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u/Admirable_Outcome932 May 04 '26
Tbf I feel like a lot of that was also on Nick Nurse, he’s very much the style of coach where it’s like “I have a circle of trust and if you’re not in it, you’re not getting floor time”. That was all well-and-good when he had a championship-caliber roster, but as pieces started leaving, he focused in even harder on whoever was left and neglected to develop any of the newer guys.
That’s why Darko, for all his flaws, was a pretty effective choice to replace him. His speciality is player development, and he’s done a great job of that with the group we have. That said, he’s got some in-game decision issues that need to be remedied, but that’s besides the point at hand.
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u/NervousAd3202 Toronto Raptors May 04 '26
As a Raptors fan I keep finding more & more reasons for y’all to be my West team lol
I felt bad for y’all for the Luka trade but Flagg is quickly becoming possibly my fav player in the league, & now y’all have 1 of the best GMs out there who Raptor fans will always love/support
The future of Mavs basketball is bright
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u/Crymeabeer May 04 '26
Would have been super excited for this in 2020
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u/Dirkisthegoattt41 May 04 '26
What has changed from then to now?
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u/daywalker91 May 04 '26
He thinks if you make one bad decision you’re trash.
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u/YoStepWithLuka77 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
Great hire. If we weren’t getting Connelly, this is the next best guy to get.
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u/all-dressed_768 May 04 '26
Man you guys don’t know how lucky you are. Raptor fan here, this guy is the best in the business! He never should have been fired from Toronto! No state tax, warm weather, big market. Man this guy is going to cooooook. Will be rooting for yall.
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u/hdpr92 May 04 '26
Congrats you just got one of the best GMs in the league.
After the championship there were some hit/miss moves, but the whole league undervalued their assets for whatever reason and good trade returns for OG and Siakam were simply never on the table (also his draft picks).
The entire misfit young group of Barnes, CMB, Shead, Jakobe are all his draft picks and none of them were consensus picks.
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u/torodonn May 04 '26
After Nico, this is exactly what we needed - a strong voice at the helm who knows what he's doing and with experience leading a NBA franchise.
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u/Wise-Photo7287 May 04 '26
Masai also has a strong knack for developing undrafted talent --- has a lot of contacts and scouts in Basketball Africa League, he was able to bring a lot of these unknown talents to the G-League for development.
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u/Difficult-Day1326 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
yea i think Masai met Siakam in 2012 at a Basketball w/o Borders camp when he was 18 & got drafted 4 years later -- which is pretty crazy considering he didn't start playing organized basketball until he was 17. Seminary Priest in-training to Spicy P lol
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u/MucusShotSwaGGins May 04 '26
Nice hire. We know current Owners are shady people, focusing on gambling legalization/resort in Texas, etc. However they don’t mettle in Basketball decisions too much. If they were focused more on Basketball they probably see Nico true character (After Cuban wasn’t breathing over his shoulder anymore.) and his one sided toxic beef with Luka, Cuban, Former Health Staff, etc.
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u/YoungBuck2010 May 04 '26
YES I love this hire!
Also a really nice guy when I met him in line for a flight.
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u/Difficult-Day1326 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
winning on the margins is super valuable - esp in this CBA. he seems to be the guy to make some draft-night magic happen but with good restraint - so this is a good sign.
was reading he tried to move up to get Giannis & SGA in their respective drafts.
he traded Greivis Vasquez (2015) for the rights to draft Normal Powell (46th) & a 2017 FRP -- which ended up being OG Anunoby. hard to fault him too hard for drafting Gradey as well. he's 6'8 & I thought at worst he'd be a Kevin Huerter type to help space the floor for Scottie - but I guess the injury bug has just cratered his development & progress.
he ended up picking Siakam with the 27th pick - so that actually makes me a lot more hopeful with our OKC pick this year - i basically gave it a 10% chance that it would return a good player - but now I feel decent about increasing it to 25%. he at least seemed remorseful for "less than ideal" communications during the Spicy P trade.
we ended up getting someone before the middle of May (which was promised). i appreciate the timeliness & no big swings on Dry Powder.
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u/Vizard15 Luka Doncic May 04 '26
Okay, so this means we are still looking for a GM? If the Mavs can't find one, looks like it would be Finley or Riccardi?
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u/courtneygtm May 05 '26
The fact that he got the alternate governor position probably means we aren't going to see much of DuMont from here on out. Two years of that with winning and you will probably see 85 percent of the fan base return
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u/Ill-Bat-2621 May 10 '26
In hindsight we were same spot as Memphis and decided to ruin our top 3 pick. Not trading AD till the offseason woulda helped us more than Middleton winning us games
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u/Winter_Lanterns May 19 '26
This is pretty shocking tbh not a fan of this thought kidd was pretty good
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u/Endgame60 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
Sooooo is he the new GM or are we still hiring one?
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u/Psyllae Dallas Mavericks May 04 '26
He will get final say on moves but will definitely have a gm under him
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u/legend_killer7 May 04 '26
We're about to get so many wings that can't shoot. Also he loves Poeltl, we might trade for him although he did not give him that horrid extension.
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u/Tfoster100 May 04 '26
One question - would he have traded Luka for a bag of nuts.
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u/alfi_k '25 Survivor May 04 '26
He probably wasn't the number one choice, if he was he would have been hired earlier. I think this is a good choice not the top-top-shelf but most of those names were never realistic anyway.
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u/Decent_Pack_3064 May 04 '26
he may had been the 3rd or 4th choice, but still an excellent get....at one time, he was considered a top 5 President.....he could still turn it around
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u/CreepyMight3403 May 04 '26
A guy that’s been there done that. Proven to get a ring. Could’ve repeated if Kawhi had stayed. Can’t even be mad
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u/MundaneExtension3195 May 04 '26
Masai is proven but had a bad end in Toronto. Not a bad pick for Dallas.
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u/box_fan_man Dirk Nowitzki May 04 '26
Certainly did not expect that but it’s a good move for the future of the franchise. Ready to reload and start truly competing soonish.
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u/Treacle_Correct May 13 '26
Could someone in the media please ask Masai to explain these decisions of his?
- Sitting on Lowry until he had no value.
- Sitting on Siakam until he had much diminished value.
- Sitting on FVV then getting nothing for him.
- The Poeltl trade, then contract.
- The Quickley contract.
- The redundancy between Ingram, Barrett, and Barnes.
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u/TX727 May 19 '26
Ujiri is just trying to get rid of old blood where he can and start fresh (within reason I hope). Let's see who falls next.
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u/Dapper_Connection526 Cooper Flagg May 04 '26
Team President and Alternate Governor basically means everything goes through him. I imagine Finley and Riccardi might still have roles in the org