trwi7 wrote:Yes, now all you have to do is believe that a 20 or 21 year old Masai Ujiri, while playing professional basketball in England somehow managed to help a random Nigerian couple that had no connection to his family emigrate to Greece knowing that one day he would be the GM of an NBA team and that one of the kids (who weren't even born yet!) would go on to become an NBA MVP. Guys on Maury come up with more plausible stories on why they're not the father.
Masai is a philanthropist, so it doesn't exactly seem far fetched that he would help them migrate, and who's to say that the family he was helping out was even random? Anyway, my understanding is not that he helped them migrate, but rather that he helped them with their Greek citizenship.
Look, no one is claiming to know the exact extent of Giannis and Masai's relationship, but there is definitely a strong connection there when you have Bucks reporters asking Giannis, "you're quite close with Masai, but I also know you're a competitor" or "so how do you balance that, someone you care about who's been there for you your entire career, and then he's kind of on the other side in a lot of ways now". I would think that implies the media know of a connection and you are simply trying to downplay it or you're in fact ignorant on the situation.
I mean Giannis himself said, "Masai helped me and my family during the years I've been in the league, but he's an unbelievable guy, great GM, and built a great team. After the series is over, if he wants to go and golf or do something, we can definitely do that". Masai has been careful when talking about Giannis and has not revealed much about their relationship, but with what Giannis said, I think we can deduce that there is a personal connection of some sort and that Masai at the very least helped him and his family ever since Giannis has been in the league. What came before that is not fully clear, but yes they do appear to in fact have a very good relationship.
I do think it's silly that you'll quickly dismiss Masai and Toronto from the equation if he leaves Milwaukee, but you didn't hesitate to mention LA citing Jason Kidd is an assistant coach there and was his former coach as your validation. If he does go to LA, I can tell you that it won't be because of Kidd. If he goes to Detroit, it won't be because he once referred to Thon Maker as his brother, or because his former workout companion is now there, and even though he may have a close relationship with John Hammond, the Magic aren't building the foundation of a winner at the moment.
Yeah let's reference the insignificant connections and ignore his relationship and connection with Masai and the other factors that Toronto will leverage in their bid for Giannis such as the winning culture established from top to bottom in the organization with great supporting players and budding stars, a great head coach, and cap space.
tl;dr: Yes, Masai does have a pretty amazing relationship with Giannis and his family.
