Masai Ujiri
Masai Ujiri (born 7 July 1970) is a Nigerian-Canadian professional basketball executive and former player, and is the president of basketball operations of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
After a modest playing career, Ujiri became a scout in 2002, first for the Orlando Magic and then the Denver Nuggets. In 2008, he joined the backroom staff of the Toronto Raptors. 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. 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. In the summer of 2018, Masai Ujiri relinquished his title as general manager to Bobby Webster, and accepted the position of president of basketball operations. 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 family. 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 would be fed by American sports magazines and VHS tapes of NBA games or basketball movies. He admired Hakeem Olajuwon, an NBA star who was 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.
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