New Mavericks president Masai Ujiri gives perfect answer when asked if he would've traded Luka Dončić

The 2024-25 NBA season was overshadowed by the blockbuster midseason trade that sent star Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team swap.

The deal caused Mavericks fans to stage various protests outside of American Airlines Center, calling for the firing of former GM Nico Harrison before he was finally shown the door in November 2025.

Dallas began a search for a replacement and, on May 4, agreed to terms with former Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri to become the franchise’s new team president and alternate governor.

Ujiri is tasked with continuing Dallas’ turnaround following a 26-56 season. Fans are still not over the Dončić decision, and it was clear that anyone hired for the role would have to answer for the faults of his predecessor.

During his introductory press conference, Ujiri was asked whether he would have made the deal that sent Dončić away. Rather than simply saying “no,” he gave a well-thought-out answer to help fans see the past as the past and focus the future.

“We have to respect everybody and everything that happened here,” he said. “He [Dončić] is a Hall of Fame player. He is gone. He will always be a Maverick.

We have to move, we really have to move on. It is not for me to start criticizing what anybody else is doing. It is for me to criticize what I am doing, and worry about what I’m going to do.

If I continue harping and harping on that, and I think all of you are going to be asking what I am doing. I have to look to the future because winning is what we have to do here and winning is a responsibility of mine.“

Ujiri is credited with being the mastermind behind the Raptors’ impromptu championship run in 2019. The irony of the hire in Dallas is that at the time, Ujiri received some heat for trading away the former face of the franchise, , in exchange for .