🚨 Masai Ujiri OUT as Raptors President 🚨 Windy says new ownership is MAKING MOVES! 🔁 | First Take

🚨 Masai Ujiri OUT as Raptors President 🚨 Windy says new ownership is MAKING MOVES! 🔁 | First Take

all right let’s dive right in because we got some breaking news here guys sean’s reporting this morning that Masayiri is out as vice president and chairman of the Toronto Raptors the Raptors won their first championship under Yujeri in 2019 but have gone 55 and 109 over their last two seasons wendy what impact could this move have on the NBA landscape
well the Raptors are a team that um first off they’ve a little bit underachieved last couple of years and um they frankly kind of tanked at the end of the season and they won more games than they wanted to and they didn’t get lucky in the lottery they ended up with the ninth pick and then they tried to move up with the ninth pick either move up in the draft or use the ninth pick to acquire more talent which they weren’t able to get done but the key I think here is the Raptors are about to have an ownership change in fact they’ve already had the ownership change um and Ed Rogers the head of Rogers Communications is going to be taking over the team within the next year and he fired the head of the Toronto Argonauts he fired Brendan Shanahan who ran the Toronto Maple Leafs and now there’s a partying of ways with the president of the Toronto Raptors first off Uzieri is one of the most respected uh executives in the league i do not think that he will have a problem getting on their job if he wants one however it is a reminder of how how Raptors were going to be potentially very motivated to make a move in the next couple of weeks
danny are you shocked by this from a player perspective i I am because Messiah has done so much for that organization he’s been amazing obviously he’s legendary in the whole country of Canada and for me you know I’m biased but I love what he’s done there obviously last couple years have not been great but I had full confidence that he would turn it around he hasn’t got that opportunity well he won’t get that opportunity any further but we we had a great relationship he had a great relationship with all the players there and I said he was a guy that did a great job of recruiting guys and getting people to come there so I was a little shocked by it because I thought he might have made it he might have been one of the guys to make a run at one of the big stars this uh upcoming free agency uh but he won’t get that opportunity now so I mean things are changing all around the league
tim what was your visceral reaction when you heard this i I wasn’t surprised because it it seemed like his tenure in Toronto was going to come to an end sooner than later but what Wendy said about him being one of the most respected executives in the league won’t have a problem getting another job if he wants one that to me is the big question does Messiah Jury want to jump right in with another franchise uh you know I think that’s a question a lot of people around the league are going to be asking this is a guy who’s proven he can build not just a contender but a championship team making the a blockbuster trade to bring in a uh a Danny Green uh I think there was somebody else involved in that deal too kind of named Kawhai but seriously the guy the guy built a sustained contender in Toronto got them to the mountaintop and you know if if you’re looking for somebody to run your franchise I think you’ve got to start right here if he’s available despite trading Luca Donic to the Lakers for 10 time all-star Anthony Davis the Mavs hope for a generational pairing after drafting the number one consensus player in the country in Cooper Flag the Rockets made a big splash this past Sunday with the acquisition of 15time all-star Kevin Durant from the Suns pairing KD with the likes of young rising star Almond Thompson and let’s not forget about the Spurs after acquiring Jiren Fox from the Kings last season San Antonio looks forward to having him and the French sensation Victor Winyama for a full season danny which Texas duo are you the highest on i may sound a little biased here but I’m I’m looking at the Spurs i want to see a healthy WBY and a Darren Fox we never got a chance to get them at full strength last year obviously everybody’s interested to see what KD looks like too but for me it’s that that duo and seeing how WBY bounces back from that bloodcot issue and Darren Fox from his surgery so uh and they have a great good core around them they just drafted Dylan you know Harper they have uh Stefon Castle they have so many good young pieces you know Vel you got Kell Johnson over there Jeremy Sohan like they have a really great you know young core so I want to see how they can because I think they’ve been one of those teams that turn around fully and not be you know obviously they were lottery this past year but going from that to being probably a top six scene in the West top six seed in the West excuse me
McMahon who do you have your eye on i’m shocked that Dan Green went first go right uh you win championship somewhere you should be a little bit biased but look this is honestly this is a there’s a no wrong answer situation here there’s reason for excitement with all of these duos i’m gonna go with Kevin Durant and Aman Thompson uh and and the tiebreaker there is I think they have the best team i think they have the best situation in terms of being able to make a deep playoff run a man Thompson is one of the best defensive players in the league just spectacular in transition but this team had a massive massive glaring hole in terms of the go-to guy you bring in Kevin Durant who can get 27 points per game in his sleep you know 30,000 plus points still playing at an elite level and I do expect that the Houston Rockets are going to be playing into May potentially even deep May
molly I don’t know the answer to this question i I honestly I don’t i think part of it is we don’t know necessarily who the duos are what I mean you’ve talked about when WMBBY and De’aran Fox certainly those guys are are top of the game but what if Dylan Harper is the kind of player that that the Spurs and a lot of people think he is what if their new duo with all due respect to Darren Fox what if their duo ends up being Dylan Harper and Victor Webeyama and then you have Stefan Castle and De’aran Fox now you’re talking about a different conversation alto together i’m going to say the same thing about Dallas this is not really a duo situation this is a trio when Kyrie Irving gets healthy we’re talking about Kyrie and Cooper Flag and AD that’s very powerful and you know it’s really hard to build a big three in the modern NBA because of the the new rules the new CBA rules except when one of them is on their rookie contract which Cooper flag is going to be for the next four years and then in Houston I kind of you know if I had to pick a team now that I like to win I like Houston like McMahon said because I think KD go adding to that roster and I am as high on Amn Thompson as I am on any young player in the league and again they have a he is Amen Thompson is on a rookie scale contract but that leaves out their all-star their all-star is Al Perin Shenon and so what makes this so remarkable it’s a really good construct of a question because it’s a really good you know who do you like the best but these teams are deeper than these duos
okay let’s put it this way i love the appreciation you’re having for the league but you know if Big Perk was here right now he’d tell you this is first take and you need to pick a side but but I’ll work with you a little bit what do you most excited to see right now the most excited to see with McMahon is Amen and Durant because I think their skill sets potentially especially if they’re going to complement each other on the wings potentially very very interesting but I will say Cooper Flag is going to be fascinating to watch but I but if you’re backing me into a corner I will say the Rockets
danny uh interesting take no love for Cooper Flag Anthony Davis from anybody here um I’m interested in seeing that i said I picked the Spurs because I just think they can turn it around houston does have the better team right now but if healthy I think Dallas honestly could be the team to give OKC their their toughest run they could be one of the best teams in the West uh between Houston and Dallas so yeah Wy I mean Wendy I love the fact that you’re looking at the the trios but you we got to pick a duo here and I guess I can settle with Kevin Durant Thompson that’s a good second for me anyway
i talked him into it
yeah tim why no love for Cooper and AD well listen again there’s no wrong answers here and I will say obviously everybody is extremely excited to to see Cooper Flag and especially early in the season when Kyrie unfortunately will be recovering from a torn ACL he’s not going to be on the floor cooper Flag is going to have a chance to really spread his wings jason Kid sees a lot of Grant Hill type of characteristics remember Detroit Grant Hill that was a bad dude and Cooper Flag is going to have a chance to be a point forward to have the ball in his hands a lot not sole responsibility but like Jay Kidd did with Giannis he’s gonna put the ball in his hands and see what he can do with it uh and you know this is a guy there’s the Grant Hill comparison there’s also a Kawawaii comparison with what he can do defensively obviously there’s a ton of excitement about Cooper flag so much so that uh I think that some of those folks who promised never to show up to the AAC again after the Luca trade they’ll have their butts right back in those seats with number 32 jerseys on
danny
I think we’re giving Cooper flag a lot of credit here early on um the Grant Hill compar Grant Hill was a real I said he was a bad dude and I think the reason why a lot of us have not chosen the Cooper flag Anthony Davis because Cooper flag hasn’t been proven yet he has to still learn a lot i’m Thompson has shown what he can do de’arren Fox can has shown what he can do so obviously WBY has too and Kevin Durant um so we waiting to see what Cooper Flag can bring obviously we know he’s an unbelievable talent he’s gifted and we expect some big things from him i think he’s gonna be in a situation where he can learn a lot so we don’t know what he’s going to look like yet obviously there’s these comparisons of Grant Hill but I haven’t given him that type of you know credit just yet or those type of flowers just yet till I see it so I think that’s why they’re in last place for me and the duos on the on the top duo list ant-man’s playoff run ended at the hands of the Thunder for the second year in a row okc took down the Wolves in just five games in the West semis in route to their first title despite that Edwards still in good spirits listen to this hey season five over with got my KFC UFC USC okc and five man
i ain’t going to make no excuses hey they put they put belt that I can’t be mad at that right that’s it
look we can’t be mad at that i said “Man you know wins or lose
I’m still going to talk my
got to.”
Look you got to win like a boss and lose like a boss
see this is why people love Ant-Man it’s not just the play on the court it’s the personality as well always a good time tim what’s your confidence level in Ant-Man leading Minnesota in the West i just hope the league office isn’t listening because he might have just gotten fined about I don’t know how many beeps were there about 25 per so he’s out 200 grand or so listen the Timberwolves back-to-back conference finals appearances and is potentially you could argue he’s a top five player already he’s an ascending talent i love Anthony Edwards i’ve got a ton of respect for the Wolves and I think they can beat KFC UFC USC they’re not beating OKC the the the problem I have with saying that the Wolves are going to take another step is the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to be back next year and they are going to be better it is a the youngest champion in 50 years and a team that is their MVP is improving much less all the guys the Jaylen Williams the Chad Homegrrens the Case and Walls I can go on down the list Oklahoma City is the problem here Anthony Edwards and and the Timberwolves really really good rising but they’re going to keep on hitting their heads on the ceiling that is the Oklahoma City Thunder
Wendy to that you say what
well I was there that night and had been in his press conference a few minutes before that video that was I believe right after game five where they lost in Oklahoma City and it was interesting to see the way Ant was reacting he wasn’t you know I think he was upset but I think his way of dealing with being upset is to sort of be gregarious like that um
that’s when we dissected the press conference exactly i was at the press conference and I would I would just remember Bill Duffy who is one of the you legendary NBA agent i think he had four guys drafted in the top 15 this week i was with Bill Duffy after the game and he represents um Mike Connley who was in his mid-30s and near the end of his career who was absolutely devastated and he basically was hugging Mike Connley dealing with the loss of that season and then he walked over to a who he also represents and a was like I’m fine don’t worry about it you know and so it was you know
and aunt was excoriating saying that because he said he felt terrible for Mike Conley
he felt bad for Mike Conley yes
and people didn’t like that yeah that answer
so anyway here’s what I’d say the Timberwolves are set up to continue to be very competitive and I still believe and is getting better i think his his game and his leadership is getting better and the Timberwolves have taken some steps to keep their team very competitive they are going to have some big moves in this next few days they have three key free agents rudy go um Julius Randall who I expect them to get resigned nas Reed who was last year’s six man of the year and plays a very important role for them he is going to opt out of his contract over the weekend i expect I think they’ve prioritized resigning him i’m not so sure about Nikquille Alexander Walker i’m sure there are methods that they have to try to keep the three of them um but one of the reasons they went out last year and they got a couple of first round picks was to try to pay uh was to try to replace Nikquil Alexander Walker so I think that team is going to be very strong and while I look at the Thunder and say that’s a very difficult team to overcome I have seen Ant repeatedly be able to be a leader in a postseason setting so I think you know it’s one thing to say can Luca lead the Lakers to a to a to to a finals when the when the Lakers clearly are not built out the Wolves are built out as a team and they have an elite executive who is leading them i believe the answer to this is yes i I think it’s going to be hard i wouldn’t favor it but I think Ant is I think Ant could get it done
danny the thing I find interesting is real quick is the conversation prior to this is Antsy the future face of the league and now we’re wondering can he even lead them to the finals danny
I mean I I’m full confident Anthony Edwards of becoming the player we expect him to be he’s obviously taking accountability and I think he understood that the fact that they were a good team but they were not better than Oklahoma City Thunder that’s why he wasn’t so disappointed they the Oklahoma City Thunder was just a better basketball team i’m fully confident in him as an individual but the organization I’m not so sure about that Wendy i I don’t know if they’re going to make the right moves if you’re not making moves in this league today you’re not getting better i don’t know if they’re going to be able to do that even bringing back those guys I don’t think they’re good enough you can bring back all of those guys they’re not good enough to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder they don’t have the pieces they need more people around Anthony Edwards to make it easier for him so I said I’m confident Anthony Edwards i don’t know if I’m confident in the Bulls organization honestly I think they got lucky to get into the Western Conference Finals let me ask you if Steph is not if Steph is not if not hurt I don’t know if they beat Golden State
let me ask you this they had an opportunity two weeks ago or so to trade for Kevin Durant now Durant didn’t want to be there and so then they backed off but I I think there was a framework where they could have traded for Kevin Durant and now Durant I don’t know what Durant would have done do you you know that indicates that they still think that they need to work on their roster i don’t know i’m not sure i don’t necessarily think if they got Kevin Durant that they would have necessarily been able to get over the hump but I don’t know if you feel differently because if you if you don’t like where they’re at maybe you thought they should have gone for Kevin Durant i that I think they should have and they need to go for somebody else because as it stands I don’t think they have enough pieces to get it done or even get back to the Western Conference Finals i it’s a I think it was luck of the draw and they were you know they asked I think Finch asked before the series are you guys a Western Conference Finals team or did you make the Western Conference Final to me I thought they just made the Western Conference Finals and they had a good you know lineup of who they matched up with and being an unhealthy Golden State Warriors team because with Steph being healthy I think that’s a different series and honestly they were six seed I didn’t expect them to come out and they beat the Lakers they beat them pretty handedly listen I I I don’t think they should have done the KD thing if KD didn’t want to be there plus they’d have been giving up likely their defensive backbone uh in Rudy Gobear and other pieces and and really sacrificing depth but I’m not going to sit here and say the Timberwolves are lucky to get to the conference finals you can’t Are you lucky two times in a row i mean if so they should go buy a lottery ticket and here’s here’s the thing finch said that as a challenge they went there last year now they made major change obviously trading Carl Anthony Towns bringing in Julius Randall they went through a lot last year to kind of get that fit to work to to get comfortable but the problem here is not the Minnesota Timberwolves that is a phenomenal organization they’ve got a great coach they’ve got a great front office they have a an awesome face of the franchise a good supporting cast the problem is the Oklahoma City Thunder and that’s guess what it’s the problem for the Timberwolves it’s the problem for the Rockets it’s the problem for the Nuggets the Warriors we can go on down the list and it’s a problem for the entire Eastern Conference the Oklahoma City Thunder are a major problem that we’re going to watch play in June several times over the next uh five or 10 years yeah I can’t disagree with you there i think they are a great organization but I do think they need to get lottery tickets because they have been I think the whole Carne Towns trade Julius Randle had unbelievable season but when the the start of the season with Carl Towns being traded out a lot of people thought it was a really bad deal but the fact that Julius found his rhythm they found a good you know thing going with him they got into you know a situation where they got matchups and they beat the Lakers and I think but I really do think they did get lucky in the sense that they had the great matchups to get to Western Conference Finals cuz I was that was not a team that I would think would make the Western Conference Finals confidently or even next year as they’re built up but I do think the Minnesota Timberwolves organization is a good organization but I’m just not sure that they’re going to be able to draw any other superstar or any other good pieces to fit around Anthony Edwards to get them back to where they were this past year
fair enough wendy real quick last word then I got quick takes for you
i have an enormous amount of faith in Aunt Edwards i feel like there’s only a couple of people in this league I would want over him unfortunately one of them is Sha Yos Alexander another one is Nicola Yogic and those are the teams he’s got to get somehow get over
yeah and they’re both in the West quick takes let’s get it guys wendy with the draft in the books biggest winner i’ll tell you what I like what the Spurs were able to do because they get Dylan Harper a lot of executives feel like this was a twoplayer draft in other words there were two impact players in this draft so you wanted to have with the first or second pick the Spurs uh the Spurs are able to get that pick and then they were able to get an potentially impact wing player uh later on in the first round so you know and they’re in really good shape to make um another another deal going forward if they see a star player um and look they have they have really set themselves up for for growth because they’re going to have quality players on on rookie contracts i don’t like have a loser i would say the biggest question mark sort of the biggest gamble is what the New Orleans Pelicans did they can look at themselves and say we got two lottery picks in this draft two guys that we’re very excited about jeremiah Fears is a guy I think Jonathan Gavon had going his four or five Stephen A loves him
he does and then as soon as they acquired as soon as they made that draft pick they immediately got on the phones and said “Can we get back into the lottery to get Derrick Queen out of Maryland?” Um they love Derrick Queen they really believe he’s a transformational uh player and they paid a huge price and that’s why they’ve got the biggest question mark because they traded this 2026 first round pick that is either theirs or Milwaukey’s whichever is better to Atlanta people in the league are wondering whether that was a mistake i say let’s wait and watch but if that ends up being a high draft pick um potentially if Milwaukee has another rough season uh with injuries or if Giannis try it ends up being traded or if you know in the tough Western Conference the Pelicans don’t advance you know that’s also a problem my favorite
Can I get a You just
Sorry
no no no you’re good that’s where we’re going your favorite moment
all right the Wolf brothers okay the the the first round pick right at the end of of the first round that the Nets took Danny Wolf out of Michigan okay everybody’s going to remember his brother crying because it was the ugly cry scene around the world and that is very poignant but what really attracted me to this is what happened just before that when Danny was sitting at the table and he was one of the last two guys in the green room it was his brother his older brother Jake who was sitting next to him pumping him up he was saying “It’s going to be okay you’re going to be all right you got this.” He was trying to make him laugh trying to pump him up and you could tell it’s because they have such a special relationship and then after he was drafted then he ugly cried so you can tell his role is so important to support his brother so I liked both of that but he was you know you say you’re there for your brother and like what does that mean well that means is that means in pumping him up when your brother is crying and crying when your brother is smiling that’s what it means and I love that and that’ll be an indelible memory for me uh Jake to me Jake uh Wolf was one of the big winners of
Nothing better than family i got two big sisters and nothing better than them also know what it’s like to ugly cry on TV not that I’m proud of that moment uh Tim listen Wendy had the same kind of ugly cry when you when he found out that you guys were bringing me on for my first take debuts my hoop collective big brother and he he was just he was all worked up it
was older than me
listen Wendy went soft on the Pelicans you went soft on the Pelicans Wendy are you kidding me they’re going to give up a higher pick than 13 next year look at the Western Conference tell me how many teams are better than the Pelicans they better be right on Derek Queen because they gave up a lottery pick to go get them danny you want to say anything quick yeah I mean I obviously love what the Spurs are doing um second for me I got to give a shout out to Shawn Marks unbelievable draft they got my guy Drake Pal over there from Carolina and also Jagor Denon i I love the pieces that they picked up they use all five draft picks and I’m interested to see where they go from here with those picks but I want to see obviously Dylan Harper a kid I’ve watched play since he was a sophomore in high school i want to see how he messes with the group over there in San Antonio so those are the two you know organizations I think kind of won the draft
okay full disclosure I want to see what happened on Get Up at around 8:35 a.m eastern i honestly did not see it so this is a full surprise for me i mean you know we have new studios here Molly and you know we’re you know we’re not exactly
rookie move Wendy rookie move right there
i you know I was trying to go get your tea i knew you wanted your tea ready
i can’t even give you a hard time full disclosure guys cuz I’m behind the scenes like where am I supposed to be looking what’s happening they’re shooting us from the back all angles we’re all
full disclosure i was instructions and I didn’t follow them that’s my full disclosure okay there we go

Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon and Danny Green join Molly Qerim on First Take to react to the breaking news that Masai Ujiri is out as the Vice Chairman and President of the Toronto Raptors. Then they discuss other offseason storylines around the league following the conclusion of the 2025 NBA Draft.

0:00 Ujiri situation
2:59 Texas duos
3:36 Victor Wembanyama & De’Aaron Fox
4:35 Kevin Durant & Amen Thompson
7:47 Cooper Flagg & Anthony Davis
9:31 Anthony Edwards’ attitude
14:24 Can Ant-Man lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a championship?
18:10 Winners of the draft
20:05 Most memorable moment of the draft

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