Masai Ujiri

Masai Michael Ujiri (born July 7, 1970) is a British-born Nigerian/Kenyan-Canadian professional basketball executive and former player who is the president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After a modest professional playing career in Europe, Ujiri became a scout in 2002, first for the Orlando Magic and then the Denver Nuggets.

After ending a professional playing career in 2002, Ujiri worked as a youth coach in Nigeria.

During an NBA summer league game in Boston, he met David Thorpe, who eventually introduced him to college coaches.

In 2002, Ujiri was accompanying a young Nigerian player to a draft tryout in Orlando when he impressed Magic scouting director Gary Brokaw, who then introduced Ujiri to coach Doc Rivers and GM John Gabriel.

Ujiri then became an unpaid scout for the NBA's Orlando Magic, paying his own way when he had to and sharing rooms with scouts or players when he could.

Jeff Weltman, then a young executive with the Denver Nuggets, introduced Ujiri to Nuggets general manager Kiki VanDeWeghe, who then hired Ujiri on salary as an international scout.

After four seasons there, he was hired away by Bryan Colangelo of the Toronto Raptors as their Director of Global Scouting.

In 2008, he joined the backroom staff of the Toronto Raptors.

Ujiri became the Raptors' assistant general manager in 2008.

Ujiri returned to the Nuggets in 2010 as general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations, and helped turn the team's fortunes around, returning them to the playoffs.

Ujiri returned to the Nuggets in 2010, as general manager and executive vice president in charge of basketball operations.

With this post, Ujiri became the first African general manager in major American sports.

As a result, he was named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2013.

The following season, Ujiri returned to the Raptors as general manager.

After putting together a Nuggets’ roster that won 57 games, the most in Denver's NBA history, Ujiri was named the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year.

He is the only non-American ever to win the award.

On May 31, 2013, Ujiri signed a 5-year, $15 million deal to become executive vice president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors, replacing Colangelo in that capacity.

In the summer of 2016, Masai Ujiri relinquished his title as general manager to Jeff Weltman and accepted the position of president of basketball operations.

Weltman was later succeeded by Bobby Webster as general manager a year later.

As president, Ujiri worked to usher in a period of sustained success, helping the team win its first NBA championship in 2019.

Ujiri was born in Bournemouth, England, to a Nigerian father and a Kenyan mother.

His parents were foreign students in England.

With the family moving back to Nigeria when he was two years old, he grew up in Zaria, Nigeria.

Ujiri's father, a hospital administrator and nursing educator, is an Isoko from Aviara in Delta state, while his mother, a doctor, is a Kenyan from Machakos County.

He originally played association football as a youth before stating his interest in basketball as a 13-year-old playing with friends on outdoor basketball courts in northern Nigeria.

This interest was fed by American sports magazines and VHS tapes of NBA games or basketball movies.

He admired Hakeem Olajuwon, a former NBA star who is also Nigerian.

Entering high school, his parents allowed him to pursue his dream of playing college basketball and join a team in one of Europe's top leagues.

He left Nigeria to play for Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, WA while staying with a Nigerian family.

After a stint overseas, Ujiri enrolled and played two years of basketball at Bismarck State College, a junior college in North Dakota.

After community college, he transferred to Montana State University Billings but left after one semester.

He left Montana and returned to England to begin a pro career.

Ujiri spent his entire professional playing career in Europe.

Before attending college, Ujiri played one season with the Solent Stars in the National Basketball League Division 3, then the fourth tier of English basketball.

Ujiri and his team won the title that season with a 20–2 record.

Following his collegiate career, Ujiri played a season for the Derby Rams in England.

He then returned to Solent Stars, playing two seasons either side of a short stint with Belgian side Tournai-Estaimpuis, followed by just one appearance with Hemel Royals.

Ujiri later spent three months in Finland with BC Nokia, where he played two preseason games before being waived.

He last played in Denmark.