Masai Ujiri, Raptors part ways after 12 years
TORONTO – The Masai Ujiri era of the Toronto Raptors is officially over.
The Raptors announced on Friday that the team’s vice-chairman and president was fired, marking the end of a more than decade-long run that delivered the franchise its first NBA championship.
Ujiri was heading into the final year of his contract with the team, but Keith Pelley, the president and CEO of Raptors’ owners Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said that the decision was made about a month ago.
“Thirteen seasons is an extremely long time in a sports leadership role,” said Pelley in opening remarks made to the media at Scotiabank Arena. “Change is inevitable. What we really thought was with the current status of our team and the foundation that Masai has built, that this was the time to make the change.
“The roster is in place. All the players have signed (and we’re) at the luxury tax level. The front office is renewed, including general manager Bobby Webster, and we have great coaching stability, led by Darko Rajakovic.”
Webster’s extension was also announced Friday, but the terms of the contract were not released. Pelley said the GM will be given the opportunity to interview for the president position along with external candidates in a search to begin immediately.
“Bobby Webster is really respected around the league and the relationship that he has with the general managers, when you look at not only this year, but previous years, he’s often been the spokesperson for key trades, key moves, free agency deals,” said Pelley. “But we are hiring another president. Whether that’s Bobby is to be determined, but we’re not hiring a president and a general manager.
“We’re hiring a president. We will have a general manager. (…) We’re looking for an experienced, prominent, strong, successful personality.”
Ujiri was present at the OVO Athletic Centre, the Raptors’ training facility, about an hour before the first round of the NBA Draft began on Wednesday. He walked around the building’s lobby and greeted reporters in the media centre.
Related Videos
Although his fate had already been decided, Ujiri stayed on through the NBA Draft at his own request, Pelley said. Toronto picked Collin Murray-Boyles ninth overall on Wednesday and Alijah Martin 39th on Thursday.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
Videoboards on the side of Scotiabank Arena welcomed the two young players to the Raptors on Friday, even as inside the building, Pelley was explaining why the man who helped draft them was no longer with the team.
“The fact that he led the draft shows Masai’s integrity and our trust and belief that he always has and will always have the best interest at heart for the Raptors,” said Pelley. “There are many factors that came into this decision, and the timing was right to make a change, and we believe that with the stability in all of the areas that have been outlined multiple times, that gave us the opportunity to do such a change and that’s what we’ve done.”
Pelley, who was hired by MLSE in January 2024, said Friday that the company’s board of directors told him his primary responsibility is to bring championships to Toronto in the NBA, NHL, CFL and Major League Soccer.
Ujiri’ is the third MLSE team president to be dismissed under Pelley’s leadership at MLSE, joining former Maple Leafs head Brendan Shanahan and Bill Manning, who was shown the door last year by both Toronto FC and the Argonauts.
“My role is to do the best I possibly can and to contend for championships on an annual basis,” said Pelley. “We have four teams, it’s obviously a little easier to do such with the Canadian Football League, but with the other three teams it’s tough, it’s hard, and I’m committed to it, to building the right culture and the right competitive players to contend and win championships.
“You have to be prepared to make some tough decisions. You have to be prepared to make change. Change is hard, it really is hard, and this decision today is hard. It’s a tough decision, but I think it’s the right decision for the Raptors at this time. And I will continue to make decisions that I think are right for the organization — that put us in the right position to win.”
Ujiri guided the Raptors to their lone NBA title in 2019 after a series of bold moves, including trading star DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and firing coach Dwane Casey in favour of Nick Nurse.
Under Ujiri, the Raptors made the playoffs seven straight seasons from 2013-14 to 2019-20.
After Leonard packed his bags for Los Angeles to play for the Clippers in free agency after the championship, the Raptors remained a force in the pandemic-interrupted 2019-20 season. Toronto finished the regular season with the league’s second-best record before losing to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of a second-round series in the league’s bubble in Orlando, Fla.
Kyle Lowry, a pillar of the Raptors’ most successful run in team history, went to Miami in a sign-and-trade following that season, and Toronto has since missed the playoffs four of the last five years, including the last three, as Ujiri committed to a rebuild amid a trying 2023-24 campaign.
Longtime point guard Fred VanVleet had already bolted to Houston in free agency before that season, with Ujiri eventually trading forwards Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby to Indiana and New York before the trade deadline.
The trades left backup forward Chris Boucher — whose contract is set to expire on Monday — as the last player remaining from the 2019 title team.
Toronto went 25-57 in 2023-24, following that up with a 30-52 record last season.
A rumoured divide between Ujiri and Edward Rogers, the executive chair of Rogers Communications, the majority owner of MLSE, was brought up several times during Pelley’s news conference. Twice, Pelley said it was his decision to fire Ujiri, not a directive from Rogers.
“I think all board members on all major decisions, supply input,” said Pelley. “But at the end of the day, they look for the input and the direction and the strategy of where the team is going through their CEO.
“That was the reason they brought me in (…) they wanted to bring somebody in that oversaw the teams. They all have input, but at the end of the day, this was my decision, supported by the board.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2025.
A new poll by Leger has found that Quebec residents are the happiest in Canada.
The web survey of nearly 40,000 Canadians found that Quebecers rated their happiness at an average of 72.4 out of 100, which is well above the national average.
New Brunswick followed Quebec with an average of 70.2, while Manitoba and Prince Edward Island finished at the bottom of the list.
Mississauga, Ont. had the highest happiness rating of the 10 largest cities, while Toronto was lowest.
Montreal finished second in the category.
The survey found that 49 per cent of respondents said their happiness level was unchanged over the past year, while 23 per said they were happier and 28 per cent said they were less happy.
“These results reveal a population that is both resilient and tested, affected by everyday uncertainty and challenges,” Leger’s executive summary read. “Happiness, while holding its ground overall, shows signs of fragility.”
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The survey found that people in the 18-to-24 and 24-to-34-year-old categories were more likely to report improved feelings of well-being, even if their overall happiness score remained below the national average.
In contrast, people in the 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 age brackets were more likely to report their happiness had deteriorated.
“There is a sense of well-being emerging among younger age groups,” the summary read. “However, this also highlights the importance of supporting adults in mid-life, who are more vulnerable to the pressures of working life.”
Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador were the three provinces with happiness levels above the national average of 68.7. They were followed, in descending order, by Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. The territories were not included in the survey.
In the survey of the 10 largest cities, Mississauga and Montreal finished ahead of Hamilton, Calgary, Brampton, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, in that order.
Women reported slightly higher happiness levels than men, at 69.4 versus 68.0.
Leger says the overall results confirm “a level of happiness that is relatively high but stagnant or even slightly down compared to the pre-pandemic period.”
To get the results, Leger surveyed 39,841 Canadians aged 18 and up between March 31 and April 13.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Ontario Provincial Police are set to host a town hall in Quadeville, Ont., this evening to answer questions from residents about an attack on an eight-year-old child that was initially linked to an animal.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in the case and he faces charges of attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon.
Members of the small community 170 kilometres west of Ottawa say they were in shock after hearing about the arrest and hope to get clarity at today’s event in the town’s community centre.
Local resident Christine Hudder says she wants to know how police came up with the animal attack theory and why families were told for days to keep their children indoors.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The victim was found with life-threatening injuries on June 24 after she was reported missing, and remains in hospital.
Police say they are planning to give as much information as possible to locals given that an investigation is still underway.
A Burlington, Ont., mother was unsettled to discover that an old photo of her children had been used in a fraudulent GoFundMe that attempted to elicit donations in connection the recent Texas floods.
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to say that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
“She reached out to me and she was like, ‘Hey, here’s a link to a GoFundMe. Sorry this has happened to you, but obviously a picture of your kids has been used without your consent and it’s being used for a GoFundMe to raise money, to help a family dealing with the Texas floods,’” she said.
Cole explained that the fake GoFundMe, which has since been removed by the company, was looking for donations to support a widowed mother of six kids in connection.
At least 120 people have died while more than 100 others remain unaccounted for as a result of the flooding, including 27 children and councilors from Camp Mystic.
“They were trying to raise $40,000 because of the three daughters had been victims of the Texas floods,” Cole said. “And the way it was presented felt very much like they were part of maybe that girl’s camp.”
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to make that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
Provided
Cole said once the listing was sent to her, she immediately contacted GoFundMe to get the fundraiser taken down.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
By Wednesday morning, the company had done so and in a statement to Global News, GoFundMe said that the fundraiser did not receive any donations and the account has been banned from creating any further fundraisers on the platform.
“GoFundMe has the most robust donor protection processes of any platform of our kind. We have round the clock trust and safety support, humans and technology making sure funds will get to where they are intended,” the statement offered.
After contacting the company, Cole said she shared the incident on her social media pages to raise awareness.
“So I did put it on my Facebook and I put it in my LinkedIn as like a heads-up learning experience kind of thing and there was a lot of outrage,” she said.
Cole also noted that while she is disappointed by the incident, she is well aware that her troubles are miniscule in comparison to those affected by the flooding.
“I do feel a little bit in myself that what I’m feeling is in no way comparable to what the actual families are feeling who have gone through the tragedies of the flooding,” she said.
The photo came from an old blog post she had written 16 years ago. Cole can date the picture as the baby in the photo is now getting ready to go for his driver’s test.
“I’m one of those, like, OG mommy bloggers from 20 years ago. So my kids have been on the internet. They have been sort of in the public eye,” she explained.
“And I know the risk is out there. And I think parents need to remember that, that their kids’ photos can be just screenshotted and used without consent. So there’s one lesson.
“I felt a little, well, very unsettled about it, particularly because of what it was being used for.”
In addition to being a parenting blogger, she also helped found Mabel’s Labels, which offers washable labels for kids clothing and other school items, in an effort to keep them out of the lost and found.
Julie Cole and her six kids in 2025.
Provided
Being a spokesperson for the company while raising six kids keeps her in the parenting sphere and she offered some other advice to parents about the images and social media.
“I think parents just have to be mindful and aware that once it’s out there, you know you’d like to think you’ll get consent or you’ll give consent if somebody asks or they want to use it, but people will just take it and they can just take,” she said.
“You have to be especially careful now with AI, because these photos can be altered.”
She also warned parents to check with their kids as they get older to see if they are OK with pics being posted and that people should be mindful of where they are sharing their donations.
“Another lesson out of this is people need to really be cautious and know where they’re putting their fundraising dollars,” Cole said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
-
Uncategorized1 month agoShop Proud, Eat Proud, Be Proud — Ottawa Canada Day Market This June 28th
-
4 weeks agoCanada’s world junior trial saw juries tossed, intense testimony. Here’s a recap
-
4 weeks agoMeasles circulating in northeastern B.C. community, health officials warn
-
4 weeks agoAnishinabek Nation chief says he briefed Ontario police on protests against Bill 5
-
4 weeks agoRing of Fire road to bring prosperity to First Nation, problems for caribou: report
-
4 weeks agoJagmeet Singh apologizes for attending Kendrick Lamar concert after Drake calls him out
-
4 weeks agoFormer major leaguer, Jays doctor Ron Taylor dies
-
4 weeks agoDreaming of a lakeside cottage but can’t afford it? Co-ownership could open that door