Masai Ujiri is now president of basketball operations in Dallas, and his first move was hiring Mike Schmitz as general manager. The Mavericks announced both appointments Monday, ending Ujiri's twelve-year run with Toronto and installing Schmitz, 35, who spent the past seven seasons with the Raptors as assistant general manager. The timing is clean: Dallas missed the playoffs this season despite carrying the league's fourth-highest payroll at $204M including luxury tax penalties.
Ujiri's hire solves a structural problem. Mark Cuban sold his majority stake to the Adelson and Dumont families in December 2023 for $3.5B, and the new ownership wanted separation between basketball decisions and the business side. Nico Harrison, who has run basketball operations since 2021, remains with the organization in an undefined capacity. Harrison's two moves that matter: trading for Kyrie Irving in February 2023, which required sending out three rotation players and two future first-round picks, and extending Luka Dončić to a five-year, $215M supermax in 2021. The Irving trade produced one second-round playoff exit. The Dončić extension was mandatory. Ujiri inherits a roster with $176M committed for next season before any additions, a 2025 first-round pick owed to the Knicks if it falls outside the top ten, and a 28-year-old franchise player who has appeared in six All-Star games and zero Finals.
Schmitz's profile is relevant because it signals direction. He joined Toronto's front office in 2018 after running DraftExpress, the video-and-analytics scouting service ESPN acquired in 2017. His reputation is international talent evaluation—he spent years traveling to Europe, Africa, and South America filming workouts and building databases before that became standard practice. Toronto drafted Scottie Barnes fourth overall in 2021, a Schmitz-championed pick when the consensus was Jalen Suggs. Barnes won Rookie of the Year and made an All-Star team by his second season. The Raptors also selected Christian Koloko in the second round of 2022 and Gradey Dick thirteenth overall in 2023, both players Schmitz had tracked since their mid-teens. Dallas has two second-round picks in June and no first-rounder unless the Knicks' protections convey. Schmitz will be shopping in the aisle he knows.
The broader context is roster construction around a ball-dominant star when the second option is Kyrie Irving, who turns 33 in March and has played more than 60 games once in the past six seasons. Ujiri built Toronto's 2019 title team by trading for Kawhi Leonard, a different level of two-way talent, and surrounding him with plus defenders who could shoot—Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby. Dallas ranked 18th in defensive rating this season and 23rd in three-point percentage. The Mavericks have $31M in tradeable salary between Maxi Kleber, Derrick Jones Jr., and Josh Green, plus the $12.4M taxpayer mid-level exception if ownership is willing to pay another $40M in tax. Ujiri's reputation is patience, but the Dončić timeline does not permit a three-year rebuild.
What happens next is coaching staff. Jason Kidd has two years remaining on his contract at roughly $8M annually, and Ujiri has never retained an inherited head coach. Kidd's offense this season ranked seventh in the league, but his switching defensive scheme requires wings who can guard multiple positions, and Dallas does not have three of them on the roster. The assistant coach market is already moving—Nate Bjorkgren left Toronto in April, and Charles Lee interviewed for head coaching jobs in Charlotte and Detroit before taking an assistant role in Boston. Dallas also needs a defensive coordinator. Those hires will clarify whether Kidd is running Ujiri's system or running out his contract.
The Adelson family paid $3.5B for a franchise that Forbes valued at $4.5B six months later, driven by the new $76B media rights deal that takes effect in 2025. The investment thesis requires playoff revenue. Ujiri delivered five seasons of fifty-plus wins in Toronto, one championship, and three Conference Finals appearances. Dallas has not won a playoff series since 2022.
The takeaway
Ujiri's first call was his Toronto lieutenant; his second call will determine if Jason Kidd coaches opening night.
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