Raptors Reap Rewards of Roster Built by Masai Ujiri

When Masai Ujiri and the Raptors parted ways in July, the team appeared to be in NBA purgatory, a place he promised they wouldn’t be when he took over in 2013.

“We know we will not be trapped in the middle,” Ujiri said that December after trading Rudy Gay for DeMar DeRozan, a deal credited for catapulting Toronto to perennial Eastern Conference contention.

In 2019, after multiple years of the DeRozan-led core failing to dethrone LeBron James and the Cavaliers, Ujiri traded DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard. In just one season with the Raptors, Leonard carried the franchise to its first NBA championship.

But the Raptors have missed the NBA playoffs for three consecutive seasons while winning enough games to miss out on a top five draft pick. They also have limited roster flexibility, with more than $150 million on the books for their starting five alone until at least next season. In other words, the dreaded NBA middle.

Instead, the Raptors have been winning. And Ujiri’s fingerprints are all over it.

Toronto is 12–5 to start the year, second in the Eastern Conference. They’ve won seven in a row and 10 of their last 11. They were projected to finish below .500 at the start of the season, but sportsbooks now project Toronto to finish with at least 45 wins.

The turnaround has been led by the Ujiri acquisitions—most of which came in transactions that were questioned at the time. 

Toronto selected Barnes with the No. 4 pick in 2021, then handed him a rookie max extension worth $224 million over five years last summer. Veterans Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and RJ Barrett were all acquired via trades over the last two years. 

The Raptors extended Ingram (three years, $120 million), Quickley (five years, $175 million), and Poeltl (four years, $104 million).

They’ve also seen consistent production off the bench from their recent draft picks, including Gradey Dick, Jamaal Sheed, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Colin Murray-Boyles. (Toronto announced it had parted ways with Ujiri the day after the 2025 NBA draft, when Murray-Boyles was selected.)

At the head of the Raptors’ early-season success is coach Darko Rajaković, who, Ujiri hired in 2023. While NBA circles considered Rajaković a strong candidate for a head coaching position, the Serbian coach was still considered an out-of-the-box hire considering lack of head coaching experience.

Even Bobby Webster, the team’s new top decision maker, was Ujiri’s first front office hire in 2013. 

The biggest change post-Ujiri has been at the top of the pyramid. Rogers Communications officially completed its buyout of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in July, a week after the team chose not to retain Ujiri. 

The telecom giant took over the Raptors among other Canada sports giants like the MLB’s Blue Jays, fresh off a World Series berth. But they also now manage the NHL’s Maple Leafs, who are currently near the bottom of the standings.

The Raptors have had the league’s seventh-easiest schedule through the team’s first 17 games.