Masai Ujiri Joins Mavericks After Six-Month Search

The Dallas Mavericks agreed to hire masai ujiri as their team president and alternate governor after a six-month search, giving the franchise a veteran basketball executive to steer its next phase. A news conference with Patrick Dumont and Ujiri was planned for Tuesday in Dallas.

Dumont’s four-hour lunch

Ujiri, 55, brings a track record that includes building the Toronto Raptors’ 2018-19 championship team and winning Executive of the Year with the Denver Nuggets in 2012-13. His teams in Denver and Toronto posted a 690-504 record and reached the playoffs in 12 of his 15 seasons in charge.

Dumont first met with him during a four-hour lunch in Las Vegas in December, and the Mavericks kept coming back to that conversation as the search dragged on. The club had also shown preliminary interest in Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly before landing on Ujiri.

Dallas opens a new front office

The hire fills a leadership role that opened when Dumont fired general manager Nico Harrison on Nov. 11, after Dallas started 3-8. Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi handled the front office as co-interim general managers for the rest of the season.

Ujiri arrives after the Raptors parted ways with him following the draft, leaving him out of the NBA this season before Dallas moved in. That gap did not keep the Mavericks from making him the centerpiece of a front office reset that also included Rick Welts being hired as chief executive officer in December 2024.

Cooper Flagg window

The Mavericks have spent the months since then shifting toward a long-term build around Cooper Flagg, especially after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 and moving Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards before the February deadline. Dallas reached the 2024 NBA Finals, but the roster has since been reshaped around a three- to four-year window rather than a short sprint.

For fans and the front office, the immediate change is clear: the Mavericks now have a president with championship experience and a track record of sustained playoff teams guiding basketball decisions. Tuesday’s news conference in Dallas should make the structure of that arrangement plain, with Ujiri stepping into the job as the franchise tries to stabilize after a year of major turnover.