Former Raptors Head Coach Among Those Interviewed As Masai Ujiri Replacement

The Toronto Raptors are doing their due diligence in searching for a replacement for departed team president Masai Ujiri. Currently, GM Bobby Webster is the chief basketball executive on an interim basis, and is considered a strong candidate to get the job on a full-time basis.

But MLSE, the team owners, are considering several other candidates, including former head coach Dwane Casey. Sportsnet's Michael Grange reports that Casey has even been brought in for an interview.

Former Raptors head coach and current Detroit Pistons executive Dwane Casey has thrown his hat in the ring and has met with MLSE president Keith Pelley, per sources.

Casey was the NBA Coach of the Year with the Raptors in 2017-18, and spent seven seasons at the helm in Toronto, compiling an impressive .573 winning percentage with a 320-238 record. He turned the Raptors into a perennial powerhouse in the East, but was let go in 2018 (right after earning that Coach of the Year honor), in time for the team to hire Nick Nurse, trade for Kawhi Leonard, and go on to win the championship.

But if we were to name a leading candidate to replace Ujiri, posits Grange, it might be the man who has built the Indiana Pacers into NBA Finalists.

An interesting name to watch is Kevin Pritchard, the long-time Indiana Pacers president who led the club to the NBA Finals this past June and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024. One league insider suggested to me that the Pacers executive is MLSE’s preferred choice, although lateral moves when executives are under contract with other teams are often harder to execute than when there is a promotion.

Other names on the Raptors' radar include the Pacers GM, Chad Buchanan, as well as former Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair and Chicago Bulls general manager Marc Eversley.