He is close to sealing the deal with Bobby, got Nurse a huge contract, and has our franchise in a very flexible state. Can't laud him enough for the great management job he has done.
But none of this indicates, whatsoever, that Masai will re-sign.
It's not as if a top tier caliber president like Ujiri, would stop working hard, due to his lame duck contractual status. Nor is re-signing a lot of the top tier guys in the organization, an indication that Masai will re-sign as the Raptors president. He's just doing his job.
The latest presser had Ujiri claiming that his priority is on the team, not his contractual situation;
“There’s just been so much [going on],” he said. “Honestly, it’s not a matter of not doing it, I think there’s just been so much [and] I’ve pushed it [back] until, I think, we get through a lot of this. There’s just so much going on with this relocation, and the focus, I don’t want to be distracted that way.”
To me, it looks like Ujiri wants to push his contract negotiation to the final minute, perhaps because he has other plans OR, he wants leverage. The organization and ownership had PLENTY of time , before any of the complications COVID brought, to offer Masai an exstention.
All indication shows they have tried to re-sign Masai as well. From Grange's article earlier;
“I can promise you, it’s not [MLSE]. They’d have to be nuts not to [want to sign him]. It’s not like there’s a Plan A and a Plan B. There’s only Plan A, and it’s him," a source told Sportsnet.
Ujiri said on Saturday that he's extended the contracts of his leadership team, except for Bobby Webster. Ujiri added that Webster is close to an extension agreement.
The lack of urgency the Raptors showed in offering Ujiri an extension after the Raptors' title has reportedly justified Ujiri keeping his options opened.
We can look no further to Darryl Morey, and his lack of commitment, as a clear indication that transparency of intention, is not a reality, at least in the NBA.
Moreover, it was super weird that once we won the NBA championship, WOJ (that POS), tweeted out this;
Like many of you, I initially thought that Woj was acting like the scumbag he is, taking the opportunity to rain on our (just won) championship parade.
But then things got VERY weird, when Masai ended up on Woj's Podcast, right before the bubble;
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toronto-president-masai-ujiri/id1470466331?i=1000478481148
Guys like Woj don't report rumors without consulting higher up GM's. They know not to step on toes. It looks like Masai gave him the blessings to tweet some of the contractual stuff, (Woj has reported the Knicks interest as well as the Wizards).
Major media outlets are now asking the question of what will Masai do next. From Canadian media to NBC sports, speculating that Masai could be "biggest free agent next summer?".
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/12/06/could-masai-ujiri-be-the-biggest-free-agent-next-summer/
All in all, there are some big red flags coming out of the contractual situation with MLSE and Masai.
