Masai Ujiri was president of Toronto Raptors, the manager led the franchise to the title alone

Thirteen years ago, Toronto Raptors were a rethinking, if you thought at all. The organization had lost the playoffs in nine of the previous 11 years. So the franchise took Masai Ujiri as the main manager and things changed: the Raptors made intelligent decisions for the players, they built one of the best development programs of the players that the League had seen, and turned into one of the best teams of the East led by beloved players such as Kyle Lowry, winning the only title of the Franchising Franchising in 2019 in 2019 in 2019. Reported, the franchise has quadrupled with value since it was in charge of basketball operations.

Ujiri is now out as vice -president and president of Toronto Raptors, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (Mlse) announced on Friday, the day after the draft of the NBA. Ujiri was about to enter the last year of his contract.

The rest of the front office staff, including the general manager Bobby Webster, remains in force and the team will begin the search for a new president. It will be interesting to see who Toronto can bring to a job in which the GM is already underway and has just extended his contract, combined with the fact that Mlse has reduced or eliminated the role of the president with other owned sports organizations, such as the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs, reports Josh Lewenberg of TSN.

“We are confident that the organization of the Raptors, under the guidance of Bobby and its team, is in a fantastic place,” said Mlse Keith Pelley CEO. “They have a plan taking place for the next season and beyond while the team continues its reconstruction and we have confidence in their ability to perform and, ultimately, to excel. We believe that the team is in a strong and stable place and we believe that the addition of a new president will continue to advance the birds of prey, towards our next NBA championship.”

Ujiri was born and raised in Nigeria and, with this, he was decisive in the growth of the NBA on that continent and international level, at a certain point he was director of the NBA basketball Basketball Basketball program. It has been actively involved in numerous charity programs in Canada and also internationally.

On the field, the Raptors fought for a record of 30-52 last season and lost their playoffs three consecutive years. Having said that, they reconstructed a list that could well report the team to the post -station if healthy, led by Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Polytl center. Of that group, only Barrett played in over 65 games last season due to injuries.

If Ujiri wants to jump immediately to another team, there will be many offers: the teams have tried to make him go out of Toronto several times in previous years, but he has remained faithful. Until the organization does not.