Masai Ujiri, Raptors agree to multi-year contract extension
Will remain NBA club's president, Jeff Weltman promoted to GM role
Masai Ujiri has helped turn the Toronto Raptors into a winning franchise, and the team is making sure he'll be around to continue the job.
The Raptors announced Friday that they signed Ujiri, who served as Toronto's general manager and president since 2013, to a multi-year contract extension as president and promoted Jeff Weltman to the GM position. They also promoted Bobby Webster to assistant GM/vice-president basketball strategy.
Ujiri will continue to oversee basketball operations.
"I am grateful to the board and [MLSE chairman] Mr. [Larry] Tanenbaum for the opportunity to continue our progress to build the Raptors into one of the top franchises in the NBA," Ujiri said in a statement. "I'm also excited that Jeff and Bobby are being rewarded for their hard work and valuable contributions to our program.
3 straight Atlantic titles
"My family thanks the NBA, Raptors players and coaches, staff, Raptors fans, the city of Toronto and Canada for this opportunity. Toronto is home for us."
In their three seasons with the Raptors, Ujiri, Weltman and Webster have helped build a team that has won three consecutive Atlantic Division titles, advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, posted three straight seasons with franchise-high victories, and compiled a 153-93 mark, the best record in the Eastern Conference in that span.
"The gratitude and respect we hold for Masai and our Raptors senior management team are reflected in our board's action to extend Masai's contract," said Tanenbaum. "We are excited to build on our team's success and to give Masai our full support in delivering to our fans and to our country the Toronto Raptors' first NBA championship."
Weltman joined the Raptors in July, 2013 as executive vice president of basketball operations following five seasons as assistant GM with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Webster was named vice president, basketball management and strategy in July, 2013. Webster joined the Raptors after working for the NBA league office in New York the previous seven seasons.