In 1995, The Toronto Raptors franchise was born. In their inaugural season the Raptors won 21 games. For years the Raptors have been the laughing stock of the NBA. Conspiracies to keep the Raptors out of the finals have even raced through the ranks of Toronto basketball fans. So how did a franchise that felt more like the NBA’s weird cousin than it did an actual NBA team get to the NBA finals in 24 years? The answer is simple. Masai Ujiri.

Masai Ujiri is the General Manager of the Toronto Raptors and is possibly the best General manager in the NBA today. He took a franchise that seemed like it was stuck in the second round of the playoffs and turned them into not only a contender, but a genuine threat to the Golden State Warriors. He did this by taking risks that many GM’s in the league would consider insane.

His first risk was perhaps the biggest one he took. Ujiri fired the Raptors head coach, Dwane Casey. This caught the NBA by surprise. Dwane Casey had just had a historic season with the Raptors. Not only had he led the Raptors to their winningest season in franchise history, with 59 wins. but he was also a candidate for coach of the year, an award that he would later win. Everyone knew the Raptors needed a change to move up to the next level, but to fire the best coach in franchise history? What could Ujiri be thinking?

After firing Dwane Casey, Ujiri named Nick Nurse as the Raptors next head coach. Nurse had a lot of experience as a basketball coach, coaching high school, college, and having championship success in the G-league. However, the most NBA coaching experience he had was 5 years as an assistant coach with the Raptors. Masai Ujiri had just fired the best coach in franchise history for the assistant coach.

The next risk Ujiri took was trading DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a 2019 protected first round pick to the Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. This was risky for two reasons. DeMar DeRozan was the face of the Toronto franchise. What he meant to that city and that franchise is difficult to describe. He gave his heart and soul to the Raptors organization and their fans. Losing Poeltl, Green, and the pick wasn’t a big deal for the Raptors, but loosing DeRozan was like loosing a loved one and DeRozen wasn’t happy about it either.

The biggest part of the trade was the Raptors receiving Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi had made a mess of the situation in San Antonio, stating that he was unhappy with how the Spurs staff had handled his injury and that he wanted out. The Spurs didn’t want to trade one of the best players in the league to any western conference competition, so they traded him to Toronto. Kawhi had made it clear that he wanted to go to LA, so it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that wherever Kawhi went that wasn’t LA, he would be there for 1 season before moving on.

Masai Ujiri had just traded the most beloved Raptors player and a 4-time all-star for a superstar who would more than likely only be there for a year. Kawhi was clearly not happy about the trade and with DeRozen leaving Kyle Lowry and Ujiri’s relationship deteriorated. Lowry and Ujiri, reportedly, didn’t even talk outside of a professional situation for a good portion of the first half of the season. So, Ujiri traded DeMar DeRozen, a beloved Raptors player and the best on the team and he damaged his relationship with the second best player on the team. All for a player who would probably leave after a year.

The last risk that Masai Ujiri took was trading Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles and a 2024 second-round pick to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marc Gasol. The Grizzlies were clearly in the beginning stages of a rebuild and wanted to get Gasol out of Memphis. This was not a bad trade by any means. The Raptors may have lost Valanciunas and some role players but they gained a former defensive player of the year in Gasol. This was less of a risk and more of a move that required Gasol to perform to make the trade worth it.

If even one of these risks went wrong Ujiri would look like a terrible GM. Luckily for him, they all panned out. Gasol has performed great in the playoffs and was instrumental in the Raptors defeat of the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers with his excellent defense on Joel Embiid. Nick Nurse has proven himself to be a fantastic coach. He has made the necessary adjustments in the playoffs that Dwane Casey wasn’t able to. He has coached the Raptors into a historic post-season and is on the verge of winning an NBA championship as a rookie head coach. And Kawhi Leonard is looking better and better in his Raptors uniform. While he hasn’t made a commitment to stay with the Raptors I believe that the chances are looking good that he will stay. Not only that but he has performed incredibly for the Raptors, hitting game winners and averaging 30.7 points-per-game with 50.1% shooting in the playoffs.

With Game 1 of the NBA finals having just concluded and the Raptors essentially dominating the Warriors on both ends of the floor, a Raptors in 6 prediction doesn’t sound so crazy anymore. All these risks that Masai Ujiri took have not only paid off; they just might help the Raptors win their first NBA Championship in franchise history.