Source: Mavericks appoint Waziri as president, alternate governor

D Dallas Mavericks The Masai have agreed to hire Ujiri as their team president and alternate governor, landing a key basketball executive with proven championship experience after a six-month search process, sources told ESPN.

Waziri was its architect Toronto RaptorsThe 2018-19 championship team, the highlight of his 15-year tenure as lead basketball executive in the NBA. He also won the Executive of the Year Award in 2012-13 Denver Nuggets.

A press conference with Mavs governor Patrick Dumont and Uzziri is planned for Tuesday in Dallas, sources said.

Hiring Uzziri, whose teams in Denver and Toronto had a 690-504 record and made the playoffs in 12 of his 15 seasons in charge, Dumont follows a pattern of pursuing veteran executives with impressive credentials to run his franchise. He is a former recruit Golden State Warriors President Rick Welts, as Mavs CEO in December 2024, lured the Hall of Famer to run business operations in Dallas while the team began planning a new arena.

The Mavs had early interest from other franchises’ current lead basketball executives, esp Minnesota Timberwolves Tim Connelly, president of basketball operations, sources said. However, the Mavs moved on in part because of doubts the Timberwolves would allow them to engage in negotiations with Connelly, who has one season left on his contract.

Ujiri, 55, came highly recommended to Dumont as he discussed candidates he believed in with people in the league, sources said.

Dumont first met Waziri over a four-hour lunch in Las Vegas in December. Welts and Mavs president of business operations Ethan Casson also met with Uzziri early in the process.

Ujiri did not work out in the NBA after this season The Raptors parted ways with him Follow the draft.

Over the course of several conversations over the months since, Dumont became confident that Ujiri excelled in areas that the Mavs’ governor considered priorities for his new chief basketball executive, such as being able to build a strong culture, outstanding communication skills and a deep level of commitment.

Mavs minority owner Mark Cuban, who sold most of the franchise to the Adelson and Dumont families in December 2023, was not directly involved in the search process.

The Mavs’ top basketball executive role has been open since Dumont fired general manager Nico Harrison on Nov. 11. The decision came after Dallas stumbled to a 3-8 start amid intense fan backlash stemming from the shocking trade of the perennial All-NBA selection. Luka Doncic from Los Angeles Lakers In February 2025, the Mavs are only months removed from an appearance in the 2024 NBA Finals.

After Harrison’s firing, Dallas prioritized building long-term around the No. 1 pick Cooper flagThe teenage sensation who won the Rookie of the Year award. Harrison insisted on a “three to four year” dispute window Kyrie Irvingwho sat out the entire season while recovering from knee surgery, and Anthony DavisThe oft-injured, 10-time All-Star big man Doncic acquired as the centerpiece of the comeback deal.

The Mavs, whose front office Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi ran the rest of the season after being promoted to co-interim general manager, traded Davis. Washington Wizards Before the February deadline. That deal, which also shed the Mavs’ contract D’Angelo Russell And Jaden HardyThis was initially done to create financial flexibility to reshape the roster this summer.

Finlay and Riccardi interviewed Dumont during the search process. According to sources, Dumont informed both of them over the weekend that the franchise would hire someone else, expressing appreciation for their strong work under difficult circumstances this season. Their future with the franchise will be decided after discussions with the Waziri.

Dallas finished the season with a 26–56 record, giving the Mavs the eighth-best odds in the draft lottery.

Dumont has been patient while searching for a successor to Harrison, who he felt needed a new hire before the NBA draft combine, which begins on May 10. It’s a critical draft for the Mavs, who don’t have control of their own first-round pick until 2031. Dallas owns two first-round picks in this draft: its own lottery pick and the No. 30 pick, acquired from Washington in the Davis trade.

Ujiri has a deep background in scouting, entering the NBA as a scout in 2002 after his decade-long overseas playing career ended. His draft picks for the Raptors included All-Stars Demar DeRozan, Pascal Siakam And Scotty Barnes.

Ujiri founded the non-profit organization Giants of Africa in 2003, an organization that has expanded to more than a dozen African countries, building basketball infrastructure as a means of identifying and developing basketball talent while also enriching the lives of the continent’s youth and encouraging them to pursue their dreams.

Uziri last month Toronto has joined Tempo’s ownership groupThe city’s new WNBA franchise that begins play this season.