Raptors part ways with president Masai Ujiri after 12 seasons with the team and 2019 NBA title

The Toronto Raptors and team president Masai Ujiri have parted ways, the team announced Friday. It’s a shocking move by the Raptors, especially one day after the conclusion of the 2025 NBA Draft. Ujiri had been with Toronto for 12 seasons and was the architect behind the 2019 championship team. He’s one of the most well-respected front office officials in the league, and now that he’s on the market, there will surely be no shortage of teams interested in bringing him in.

Since that 2019 title team, the Raptors struggled to find that kind of success again. They missed the postseason in each of the last two years, after entering a rebuild that consisted of trading guys who were part of that championship team in Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and letting other guys walk like Fred VanVleet. They assembled an intriguing young core centered around Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett, and recently traded for Brandon Ingram at the deadline, but questions remain regarding if this is what the Raptors want their future to look like. With Ujiri exiting, whoever Toronto installs after him will determine if this is the direction the franchise wants to continue going in.

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While Ujiri’s ousting is surprising on the surface, SNY’s Ian Begley reports that opposing executives felt as though a change could be on the horizon after Rogers Communications bought BCE’s 37.5% stake in the Raptors, giving them majority ownership over the parent company — Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment — that owns the Raptors and the NHL’s Maple Leafs. Rogers Communications already owned a previous 37.5% of the Raptors, but in September 2024, they bought BCE’s share to have sole majority ownership. Any time new ownership is installed, changes are expected and that has now begun with Ujiri’s departure.

“During his 13 seasons with the Raptors, Masai has helped transform the organization on the court and has been
an inspirational leader off it,” MLSE President & CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement. “He brought an NBA Championship to Toronto and urged us to believe in this city, and ourselves. We are grateful for all he has done and wish him and his family the very best. As we plan for the franchise’s future, and its return to the NBA Playoffs, a search for the successor as president of the Raptors, led by CAA Executive Search, will begin immediately.”

Since joining Toronto’s front office in 2013, Ujiri helped build the Raptors into not just a team that simply made the playoffs, but also had deep runs throughout the postseason. Between 2015 and 2020, the Raptors regularly won 50+ games, and made it past the first round of the playoffs each time. The highlight came in 2019, when Ujiri took one of the biggest risks a front office executive could take, and traded away a beloved, fan favorite player in DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, in hopes of winning a title. 

That move was criticized at the time, in part because DeRozan was part of the heart and soul of the Raptors for so many years, and because there were no assurances by Leonard that he would remain with the Raptors past 2019 as he was set to become a free agent that summer. Leonard didn’t stick around past that season, but he led Toronto to its first championship in one of the greatest playoff runs we’ve seen. That move ended up being the crown jewel moment in Ujiri’s career with the Raptors, and earned him widespread respect for pulling off a deal that very few other executives would’ve done at the time.

Ujiri took a franchise that made the playoffs just five times since joining the NBA in 1995, widely seen as an afterthought in the league, and turned them into a serious contender with eight postseason appearances and an NBA title. He revitalized the Raptors, and established a winning culture in Toronto, even if the last few years have been a struggle to get back to those winning ways. 

In the past five years, the Raptors posted a 171-229 record, amounting to just one playoff appearance during that span. As the losses piled up, so did the questionable roster moves, like trading Anunoby for a less-than-stellar package, and letting VanVleet walk for nothing. And TSN Sports’ Josh Lewenberg reports that rival executives have described Ujiri as “difficult to work with” due to his ego. With the new ownership takeover and the lack of recent success, it seemed as though the writing was on the wall for a change.

With Ujiri out, attention now shifts to who the Raptors put in his position. They could promote from within, perhaps giving general manager Bobby Webster a dual title. Webster was Ujiri’s first hire in June 2013.

For Ujiri, he instantly becomes a hot commodity on the market. He was a candidate for the Hawks recent vacancy at president of basketball operations, per Marc Stein, though nothing came of that. He was of major interest to the Knicks many times over the years, but with Leon Rose having a successful run that doesn’t seem like a possibility. The Lakers are about to change ownership, and while Rob Pelinka has had some major wins over the years — bringing in LeBron James, winning a title in 2020 and trading for Luka Doncic — there have also been major criticisms of him in the past. Just like the Raptors changed leadership when new ownership was installed, perhaps the same could happen with the Lakers in the near future and Ujiri could be someone they target.