Masai Ujiri Is Out in Toronto — And Honestly, It Was Time

After 13 years together, yesterday the Toronto Raptors officially fired President Masai Ujiri, and while the timing is definitely strange, with the news coming one day after the NBA Draft and a few days before free agency, I actually think the decision itself is the right one.

After making one of the riskiest trades in recent NBA history when, in 2018, he traded franchise icon DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, the trade helped guide the Raptors to their first-ever NBA championship in 2019. Afterwards, Masai was rightfully praised as one of the best executives in the league. But since then, things have slowly unraveled. The team was unable to re-sign Kawhi Leonard following the championship season, and while they followed that up with a strong 2020 season—finishing second in the East—it’s been a whole lot of mediocrity ever since.

Over the past few years, the Raptors have been stuck in NBA no-man’s land. Not good enough to contend, not bad enough to rebuild. The team could never find a direction, and to be frank, that’s on Masai.

One year it seemed like the plan was to build around Scottie Barnes, then all of a sudden they were in trade rumors for players like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kevin Durant. Ujiri also made weird moves, such as trading for Brandon Ingram at this past year's deadline, which just keeps the team in no-man's land. To me, it's just been confusing from a vision standpoint.

We also cannot forget Ujiri's poor asset mismanagement over the past few seasons.

In 2023, Masai let Fred VanVleet walk in free agency for nothing when he could’ve flipped him at the deadline for a meaningful return. That was frustrating at the time, and in hindsight, inexcusable. Even worse was the Pascal Siakam trade. A player good enough to be the second-best player on a Finals team—and all the Raptors got back was Bruce Brown and three late first-round picks?

That’s just not good business, and I do believe it may have set the Raptors back years.

Yes, the timing of this firing is weird—coming a day after the draft and just days before free agency—but I think this was long overdue. This summer likely won’t be a game-changer for the Raptors, but long term, this needed to happen as the franchise can bring in a fresh voice who will have the final say in which direction the team should head in.

As for Masai Ujiri, he’ll absolutely land another job in the NBA. He’s a champion who built that Raptors roster from the ground up. He’ll forever be remembered as a legend—not just in Toronto, but across Canada. Ujiri helped accomplish what once felt impossible: building a team good enough to bring an NBA championship across the border.

The impact of that 2019 title will be talked about for generations, but Ujiri’s influence went beyond just one season. His ability to keep the Raptors in contention for years helped an entire generation of Canadian kids fall in love with the game. He may very well have been a key catalyst behind Canada’s growing basketball movement—evidenced by players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who just won the NBA’s MVP and led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2025 NBA Championship.

Ujiri was one of the league’s best executives for a long time, and in the right situation, I have no doubt he’ll thrive again. However, in Toronto, that chapter had already concluded. It was time for both sides to move on.

TikTok Video Reaction Below Right After the News Broke: