NBA Rumors: Eastern Conference Rival Looking to Poach Masai Ujiri from Raptors

Toronto Raptors' longtime executive and team president Masai Ujiri is a leading target for the Atlanta Hawks.

Leading NBA insider Marc Stein has dropped an intriguing rumor, reporting that Toronto Raptors' longtime executive and team president Masai Ujiri is a leading target for the Atlanta Hawks.

In his Stein Line substack article on Wednesday, Stein dropped the front office bombshell.

The Atlanta Hawks have interest in trying to hire Toronto's Masai Ujiri as their new president of basketball operations, league sources tell The Stein Line.

The Hawks are in a bit of a state of upheaval after another disappointing postseason failure, losing in the Play-In for the second straight year. They haven't won a playoff round since making it to the Conference Final in 2021.

At the end of this past season, they fired general manager Landry Fields, replacing him with assistant GM Onsi Saleh on an interim basis. But they are hoping to bring in a strong figure to run the organization. Stein has also mentioned several prominent player agents as potential hires to run the Hawks' basketball operations.

Masai Ujiri is a legend in Toronto, but his contract is set to expire next year

After serving as the Denver Nuggets general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations from 2010 through 2013, Ujiri took the GM's job with Toronto in 2014 and has never looked back, now entering his 12th consecutive year with the franchise. His blockbuster move to land Kawhi Leonard in a 2018 trade from the San Antonio Spurs was the final piece in bringing the Raptors their first NBA championship, and Ujiri will forever remain a legend north of the border for that feat.

But things haven't gone as well in recent seasons, with the Raptors having missed the playoffs for the third straight year, and having won just one playoff series since that 2019 NBA title.

Nevertheless, he remains one of the most highly respected executives in basketball, and the Hawks have him on their radar.

It's been reported that Ujiri's contract with Toronto expires after the coming season, and it's unknown how the new ownership structure feels about keeping him on.

It's also unknown how the Hawks will ultimately proceed, but this is something worth keeping an eye on.