Masai Ujiri, who only discovered basketball as a teen growing up in Zaria, northern Nigeria, made the crucial decisions that lifted the Toronto Raptors from NBA disappointment to title contender.
The 48-year-old Raptors president made a deal last July for San Antonio star forward Kawhi Leonard, sending away long-time Toronto standout DeMar DeRozan, and fired NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey after a second consecutive playoff ouster by Cleveland, hiring Nick Nurse to replace him.
“Caught a lot of us off guard,” said Raptors’ Cameroonian forward Pascal Siakam. “It was definitely something that was a tough pill to swallow.
“He’s willing to do anything he thinks is the best thing to put us in position to win. He’s going to do everything in his power to make us win.”
So far, Ujiri looks like a genius as the Raptors are facing defending champion Golden State in the best-of-seven NBA Finals, which opened on in Toronto.
“It’s surreal but when you put the team together, we all dream of a championship,” Ujiri said.
“The change was hard at the time but we knew the kind of player we were getting and if we overcame and we dealt with all the issues that we felt that could come together.
“We were all positive about this kind of moment and all dreamed about it. Our job is to try and create that team, the atmosphere for them, the workplace for them to prepare and they have done an incredible job.”
Leonard has 31.2 points a game in the playoffs and has sparked the Raptors, his four-bounce buzzer beater in game seven to oust Philadelphia a clutch hoop like no other in NBA history.
Nurse has stamped his mark on the club as well, but Ujiri stressed that even absent, DeRozan and Casey deserved some of the credit for getting the Raptors into the first final of their 24-season history.
“To give Dwane Casey credit, he prepared us for this, too,” Ujiri said, “Dwane Casey and DeMar DeRozan are a part of this, part of our journey and how far this has come.
“Nick has done a great job just taking it from there and building his own identity and building a team that he wanted to coach in a certain way and bringing up us to this moment. He has made the right adjustments.”
The first NBA Finals games outside of the United States are in part a result of Ujiri’s moves in assembling a team with five players from outside US borders.
“This is what we dream of,” Ujiri said. “It’s overwhelming when I look at all the international players we have on our team, even the people on our staff, it has really brought us together.
“It says so much because that’s how our city is, how the country is. We can all relate to the multicultural or the diversity of Toronto and Canada and that’s how our team is.
“They talk in different languages on defense, in the locker room, and it’s like that in our organization. And being international myself and being from Africa, I’m proud of that.”
Ujiri was born in Bournemouth England to Nigerian students who moved back to Zaria in Nigeria, when Masai was two.
He grew up in northern Nigeria and played football as a child until discovering basketball as a teen and finding an idol in Nigerian NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon.
Ujiri’s hospital administrator/nursing educator father was an Isoko from Aviara in Delta state while his doctor mother is Kenyan, of the Kamba people to be specific, from Machakos.
Ujiri went into scouting after his playing days and was hired by the Raptors as a global scouting director before becoming assistant general manager in 2008.
Two years later he went to Denver as director of basketball operations and in 2013 became the first non-American to be named NBA Executive of the Year.
In 2013, Ujiri returned to the Raptors as general manager and became team president three years later.
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki, recently was in Canada, where he met with the Nigerian-born President of the Toronto Raptors, Masai Ujiri.
Sharing a photo from the Toronto Raptors training ground in Canada, Saraki wrote: “Yesterday, it was a pleasure to spend some time at the Toronto Raptors training facility, and meet with Masai Ujiri, the Nigerian-born President of the organisation. What a state of the art facility! Congratulations.
“I was pleased to hear about Masai’s Giants of Africa Foundation, that works to create a pathway for the continent’s underprivileged youths through sport, with the goal of growing the game of basketball within Africa.
“With basketball facilities in Rwanda, Kenya, and other parts of the continent, I mentioned to Masai, that it would be great for his Foundation to augment its basketball Clinics, by building similar ones in Nigeria.”
“I have committed to work with him and other well-meaning Nigerians, to build similar basketball facilities in different parts of the country. This will create more opportunities for our young talented Nigerians.”
After this feat, various congratulatory messages has started pouring for Ujiri. Among them is former Senate President of Nigeria, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who wrote on his twitter, “Congratulations to Masai Ujiri and the Toronto @Raptors on becoming the 2018/19 #NBAChampions! The years of hard work and long-term planning that was put into building this team has finally paid off! President of Africa Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, also congratulated him through his twitter handle, “Toronto Raptors win NBA Championship and make history! Masai Ujiri, President of Toronto Raptors is a Nigerian and Kenyan. He brings glory to Africa. Africa shines! Africa is so proud of you! Great job my friend! A popular journalist with DSTV, Robert Marawa, also congratulated Ujiri through his twitter, “So proud of this brother and son of the African soil, Masai Ujiri. He always believed he could and now he is…..described by many as the shrewdest minds in the NBA. Today he’s lead Toronto to its first NBA title. History made!! Take a bow @UjiriMasai ??????#nbafinals.
WHO IS MASAI UJIRI?
Ujiri, 43, was born in Bournemouth, England, where his parents had studied. He, was, however raised in Zaria, Nigeria, after his parents moved back to the country when he was two years old.
Inspired by Hakeem Olajuwon, a Nigerian NBA star; American sports magazines; and VHS tapes of the NBA, Ujiri pursued his dream of playing college basketball. He subsequently joined one of Europe’s top leagues.
Over his six-year professional career, Ujiri played in England, Belgium, Finland, and Germany. His last play being in Denmark, where he ended his professional playing career in 2002, and worked as a youth coach in Nigeria.
In 2013, he signed a 5-year deal worth $15 million to become the general manager of the Toronto Raptors, replacing Colangelo in that capacity, and making him the first African general manager of the NBA.
His contract was later extended to include the team’s presidency.
