Who is Masai Ujiri, the new Mavericks president Patrick Dumont chose to replace Nico Harrison?
The Dallas Mavericks have been in damage control since owner Patrick Dumont fired GM Nico Harrison in November. The move followed a disastrous trade in February that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis, who was later traded to the Washington Wizards.
It was a horrible decision from the Mavs that tanked the team’s performance and alienated the fanbase. Minority owner Mark Cuban later claimed that if he had been informed, he never would have allowed Harrison to send Doncic to Los Angeles.
For the last six months, assistant GMs Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi ran basketball operations while Dumont searched for a leader to build around rookie Cooper Flagg.
Back in March, the 52-year-old president claimed, «They’re going to set the tone for everything that we do from a basketball perspective. We’re looking for someone who can set the direction of our basketball team, put the right pieces in place to achieve our goals, and set the right culture. It’s got to be a culture that will lead us to win championships.”
That search ended Monday morning with the hiring of former Raptors executive Masai Ujiri.
What Mavs fans need to know about Masai Ujiri
ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news Monday, reporting that the Dallas Mavericks are hiring Masai Ujiri as the franchise’s new Team President and Alternate Governor, with Ujiri having run the Toronto Raptors from 2013 to 2025 and serving as the architect of the 2019 NBA championship team.
After a six-month search following the firing of Nico Harrison, Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont makes a major splash with his hire of a global basketball giant in Ujiri. https://t.co/F3SUjHcnwt
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— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 4, 2026
Ujiri, 55, is one of the league’s most successful executives. He became the NBA’s first African general manager with the Denver Nuggets in 2010 and won Executive of the Year in 2013 before moving to Toronto.
With the Raptors, his most significant move was trading franchise star DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, which led to the team’s 2019 championship. After 13 seasons and seven consecutive playoff appearances, the Nigerian native parted ways with Toronto on June 27, 2025.
He is «honored» to join the franchise at such a critical time. «We will win in Dallas,» Ujiri promised, per CBS News, in his first official statement. Dumont and Ujiri are scheduled to hold a joint press conference on Tuesday at the American Airlines Center.
His arrival in Dallas marks a sharp turn from the former GM, Nico Harrison, who moved directly from a Nike sales background into the front office. Ujiri brings a title and a decade of experience to a franchise now focused on the May 10 draft lottery. With Rookie of the Year already in the building, the Mavericks hope to add another top prospect from a deep 2026 class.
They expect not to repeat the same mistakes Harrison made because after signing Klay Thompson and trading Doncic, the team was no longer the threat it used to be in the Western Conference.
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