MASAI UJIRI
Title: President of basketball operations, general manager, Toronto Raptors
Career path: Played college basketball in the U.S. and professionally overseas; interned with the Orlando Magic; assistant general manager for three years with the Toronto Raptors; named general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets in 2010; named NBA Executive of the Year in 2013; hired by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in May 2013
Masai Ujiri’s improbable path to the Toronto Raptors’ general manager office begins in his native Nigeria with stops in London, North Dakota and Montana, a stint playing overseas, and an unpaid internship for the Orlando Magic.
Along the way Ujiri, who was named president of basketball operations and general manager of the Raptors in 2013, has made the most of every opportunity, a skill that has produced one of the most promising general managers in the business. Last year, Ujiri, 43, took over the Raptors, who were surprisingly successful in earning a 48-34 record and making the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
The upstart Raptors lost in seven games to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs, but to Ujiri, the
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| Photo by: NBAE / Getty Images |
team’s unexpected success simply followed what he had previously done when he was executive vice president and general manager of the Denver Nuggets, where he was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2013.
Entering his second season in Toronto, Ujiri can turn to skills learned over a vast set of experiences to continue his upward trajectory.
His dad was the head of nursing education in Nigeria and the family traveled often. Ujiri was schooled in London, went to prep school in Seattle, played junior college basketball at Bismarck State, then played at Montana State. He played professionally overseas for six years with stops in Greece, Belgium, Finland and Germany. He then took an unpaid internship with the Magic and worked his way into a full-time scouting position.
“Being in quite a few places, watching my dad, growing up, loving basketball but traveling and meeting all different kinds of people and
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respecting different cultures helps a lot,” Ujiri said.
A meeting with former Magic general manager John Gabriel in 2002 led to a full-time scouting job with the Nuggets, followed by another scouting job for the Raptors. The Nuggets hired Ujiri as assistant general manager in 2004 and he became general manager of the team in 2010.
This offseason in Toronto, Ujiri was aggressive, quickly extending head coach Dwane Casey’s contract and making a surprising first-round draft pick in relatively unknown, 18-year-old Brazilian Bruno Caboclo. Ujiri then signed Raptors star Kyle Lowry to a new four-year, $48 million deal, a move that kept the team’s best player in Toronto.
“Masai is very worldly and the NBA is a world game,” said Tim Leiweke, the outgoing chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Raptors. “He’s learned to adapt in difficult situations. He can adapt to any challenge because his road had prepared him for it. There is little we can throw his way that he is not prepared to handle and make the right decision.”
