A new report suggests the first huge move Masai Ujiri will make as the new President of Basketball Operations of the Dallas Mavericks is to trade, arguably, their best player before next season’s NBA trade deadline.
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After weeks of rumors and speculation, Mavericks governor and majority owner Patrick Dumont made the big splash he was aiming for in his search for a new team president when he hired Ujiri last week. And the former Toronto Raptors president brings an impressive resume to Dallas.
During his tenure up north, Ujiri oversaw seven consecutive playoff appearances for the franchise, including their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance (2016), first NBA Finals appearance (2019), and the franchise’s first championship in 2019. However, staying at the top for long is difficult, and he was ousted from his role last year after a couple of underwhelming seasons.
Ujiri has shown a talent for drafting and development, and making bold trades to take his teams a step ahead. Dallas fans will surely be wondering what moves he might make to get the Mavericks out of the bottom of the standings and back into playoff contention. While that may not come this summer, a new report suggests a specific major trade will happen during the season.
Dallas Mavericks planning to trade Kyrie Irving before next season’s trade deadline?
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo explained how Ujiri’s priority will unsurprisingly be to build a better roster around young star Cooper Flag. However, that endgame won’t include top star Kyrie Irving.
“What Dallas likely won’t want to do is straddle two timelines, meaning that finding trade value for a healthy Irving likely becomes prudent if he gets back to top form. How Ujiri evaluates the rest of the roster and how proactive he decides to be in upgrading the team in his first offseason should be telling.”
– Jeremy Woo
The 34-year-old nine-time All-Star missed all of the 2025-26 season after suffering an ACL tear in March of 2025. The hope is that the extra recovery time will lead to him making an impact right away next season. However, he is on a very different timeline than what the organization has in mind for the 19-year-old Flagg and his journey toward leading the Mavericks back to competitive play.
That is why Ujiri will definitely look to find a new home for the future Hall of Famer and land more draft assets to build a winning roster around Flagg.
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