Mavs’ Masai Ujiri Talks Kidd, Goals, Flagg, Dumont

There had been a sense as the Mavericks searched for a new head of basketball operations that management envisioned Jason Kidd staying on as the team’s head coach regardless of who was hired. However, asked about Kidd’s future on Tuesday during his introductory press conference, new Mavs president Masai Ujiri was noncommittal, writes Christian Clark of The Athletic.

“He’s done a great job, but we are going to look at this thing from head to toe,” Ujiri said. “That’s the right way to look at an organization and evaluate in every single way we can.”

While Ujiri’s initial response raised some eyebrows, his follow-up remarks – in which he pointed to his track record with the Nuggets and Raptors – suggested that he probably won’t look to make a head coaching change right away. As Clark notes, Ujiri inherited George Karl as his coach in Denver and Dwane Casey in Toronto and kept them in their roles for three and five more years, respectively.

“I’m going to hear coach Jason Kidd out, his thoughts on everything,” Ujiri said. “Because some of the stuff here, I don’t know. For me, it’s that simple. If you go back to the history, it’s the same thing. I have to follow the process here. I’m excited to meet with him.”

Here’s more on Ujiri and the Mavs:

• Asked about his goals in his new position, Ujiri made it clear that he wants to put a turbulent year-and-a-half for the Mavs in the rear-view mirror, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays. “I hope to bring calm,” Ujiri said. “I hope to bring winning. Yes, we want to get back to winning. This is a winning organization. I know the fan base wants that. I know the organization wants that. I know leadership wants that. I know the NBA wants that. I’m hoping, and I’m praying, and that’s to tell you guys that I’m here, and I know that winning is my drive, and winning is going to be the drive of this organization.”
• Ujiri didn’t shy away from the fact that the presence of Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg was one significant reason why the Mavericks’ job appealed to him, per Afseth. “The one difficult thing to find anywhere, anywhere in sports, is a generational player, and we have one,” Ujiri said. “We’ve planted a flag here. We have one player here that can turn everything, and it is so hard to find in sports.”
• Ujiri envisions Flagg as the sort of player who can thrive as a play-maker with the ball in his hands. Asked what type of players he wants to surround Flagg with, he cited shooters and other players capable of spacing the floor and giving the 19-year-old more room to operate, according to Afseth. However, that doesn’t mean that he’s not excited to see Flagg play alongside point guard Kyrie Irving, who missed all of 2025/26 while recovering from an ACL tear. “I dream like you dream,” the new Mavs’ president said. “All of us dream. I can’t wait. I want to see that. … I think it’s going to be pretty cool, and I know it’s going to help Cooper, because Kyrie likes to play off the ball too.”
• Ujiri and Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said their initial meeting, which was supposed to be a one-hour lunch, turned into a five-hour conversation that helped the two men recognize the alignment between them. “Our wives are looking for us,” Ujiri said, per Afseth. “He checks his phone one time in a five-hour meeting. One time. My wife is looking for me. His wife is looking for him. They kicked us out of the restaurant. His friend owns the restaurant. He doesn’t even say anything because his lunch is over. They have to change it to dinner. We go sit outside, and we continue talking.”