As famed executive Masai Ujiri takes the reins of leadership in the Mavericks‘ front office, he is not shying away from the series of events that led to his arrival. In fact, during his introductory press conference on Tuesday, he reflected on his team’s most controversial decision, and the one that changed everything: trading superstar point guard Luka Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick.
Firstly, Ujiri acknowledged the gravity of the topic while staying respectful to everyone involved in the process. He paid his respects to Doncic, whom he called a future Hall of Famer, but also urged the public (specifically the fans) to move on and look to the future, which belongs in the hands of 2026 Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg.
“I want to be very respectful to everybody here,” Ujiri said. “Yes, there’s a healing process with that. Luka’s a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer, and that’s the best. In Africa, we always say, ‘When kings go, kings come,’ and a king went [Luka], and we have a little prince [Cooper Flagg] here now. He’s turning into a king, and I think we have to start thinking that way. Understand what we’ve gone through, but hope we can figure out how we reset as an organization, with the fans, everybody. We have to think of it that way.”
Most NBA pundits agree that the Mavericks made a mistake with the Doncic trade, but there’s no going back now. It’s been a full season and a half without No. 77, and Ujiri believes it’s more than past time to break free from its legacy. Instead, he is offering Flagg as the new source of hope in Dallas, and it’s through him that the Mavericks can once again rise to greatness.
“We really have to think about what we have inside us,” added Ujiri. “We have to come together and go win. There’s no other way to do this but winning and bringing all the players together, and finding the right players. We have the draft, we have free agency, we have so many things. We have young players on our team [already], we have to now start focusing on this; we cannot cry forever. I know there has to be a healing process here, and we’ve gone through that a little bit, but we have something shiny here, and we’re going to win.”
Ujiri has brought a spark of life to the Mavericks since his front-office takeover this summer. He’s widely regarded as one of the top executives in the field, praised for his role in building the Raptors team that won the 2019 championship. After being let go by the Raptors in 2025, he was considered the most lucrative name on the market for nearly a year. Now, he’s been given the ultimate authority in Dallas as its new President and Alternate Governor.
Despite his initial optimism, Masai has a lot of work to do. The disastrous Luka trade didn’t just destroy the team’s morale; it also decimated their identity and chemistry, putting everything in a miserable state. Cooper Flagg gives them some direction going forward, but a full rebuild is not off the table for a team that went 26-56 in the regular season (12th in the West).
Whether it’s an overhauled roster or a new voice in the locker room, we can expect some movement from the new Ujiri-led front office this summer, but don’t expect a quick fix to try to make up for the past. Masai is leading with a softer hand, meaning a slow, methodical approach. The only thing we know for sure is Cooper Flagg is going to be at the center of it, and he’s more than worthy of the honor after averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game on 46.8% shooting and 29.5% shooting from three in his rookie season.
