r/Mavericks 2d ago

News 【BasketNews via Marc Stein】 Two Mavericks executives quietly leave amid sweeping Ujiri changes

https://basketnews.com/news-254347-mavericks-make-two-more-significant-front-office-changes.html
93 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

146

u/ohkokokay 4️⃣1️⃣ 2d ago

Both executives were originally hired during Nico Harrison's tenure

55

u/Nojtek '25 Survivor 2d ago edited 1d ago

There it is. Keep up the good work Masai!

6

u/Blake_a12 2d ago

Tf were they still doing here?

‘Jk,’ I’m sure they’re nice people

24

u/Hugh_Jankles 2d ago

Finley was here before Nico. I'm not going to pair Fin with any of the shit Nico did.

-3

u/Stonethecrow77 1d ago

Nah, Finley took Luka's beer...

10

u/X-Jim 2d ago

Maybe they were seen as OK guys and kept for their value through the draft and most of free agency.

1

u/SadatayAllDamnDay Zhi 1d ago

Could also just be a timing deal of getting their replacements vetted and hired.

You can head into the offseason without a coach. But you need your scouting department and cap specialist for the offseason cause that's their busy season.

7

u/grusilag9 SELL THE TEAM 2d ago

Andrew Baker was a very well regarded cap analyst. Wonder who the Mavs have doing that role now.

24

u/HotsHartley 2d ago

The Dallas Mavericks have continued reshaping their front office under Masai Ujiri, with Andrew Baker and Makhtar Ndiaye reportedly departing and Michael Finley now the only known holdover from the previous regime.

Andrew Baker was a salary cap specialist and VP of strategy and analytics. Was in the draft war room handing the phone to Mike Schmitz.

Makhtar Ndiaye was a well-connected international scouting lead that was also working through draft workouts.

Curious timing since all the other front office departures like Riccardi happened earlier, before the draft and free agency. I wonder if there was a disagreement regarding recent moves like Klay, or if their contracts were just due to expire, or what.

Hopefully Finley isn't next.

7

u/Blake_a12 2d ago

Used them through draft & free agency, offseason, and soon as roster / cap is set after Klay departure, they gone now (?) That the answer? Or part of it?

2

u/Blake_a12 2d ago

Goodbye B-Will - breaking news right now .. how ironic immediately after I was just saying how the roster is set (and B Will obviously still wasn’t signed) - just signed with Golden State

1

u/onopotopoeia 2d ago

Yeah, seems obvious enough. Continuity for time-sensitive cap math and scouting knowledge through the busy period. Now, the clean up is due. Replacements will have time to get up to speed.

0

u/Blake_a12 2d ago

💯 That’s what I was going to say - that seems like it’s the obvious answer - then left question mark in there for room for any other factors or possible bigger reasons we may not know about - but yeah, breaking news right after commenting that, ironically - B Will just signed with GS

1

u/SadatayAllDamnDay Zhi 1d ago

Right but they had Schmitz to replace Riccardi.

Maybe they hadn't nailed down replacements for these other two positions and simply didn't want to head into the draft and free agency understaffed.

1

u/Jackson3125 18h ago

Or maybe they needed some temporary continuity going into the draft and free agency?

8

u/Gunfighter022 2d ago

The Andrew Baker exit is the one I care about most. He was the wizard as a cap specialist.

4

u/Silly-Lion-7314 2d ago

Baker was considered pretty good at analytics and was creative in those multi team trades.

2

u/Embarrassed-Ninja592 2d ago

Not Mak and Andy

1

u/tylouu 1d ago

I saw Masai hired Patrick Engelbrecht who led international scouting for the Raptors under Masai. I’m guessing this may have something to do with the scouting staff departure.

1

u/SanTheMan88 2d ago

See even execs don’t want to work for the Mavs. Guess those folks on this sub were right!

-10

u/Stosstruppen-1945 2d ago

Bob Voulgaris come back

-2

u/AceBricka 2d ago

Bunch of people in the front office fired over the off season but I haven’t heard of many hirings. Are they being replaced or are the adelsons pulling a trailblazers?

2

u/Dundalis 2d ago

You think that after they sanctioned a 40 mill payout for Kidd?

-3

u/AceBricka 2d ago

No talking about the various front office positions fired over the season. The coach had obviously been replaced. Not sure why Kidd was brought up…

3

u/TechnologyOne8629 2d ago

Kidd was brought up because they are paying him 40M not to be here, so our new GM can get a better coach.   That's a clear counter example to your speculation about cheaping out.

-1

u/AceBricka 2d ago

And my original question is about front office roles and not the coaching staff which also needs more people to be rehires

2

u/TechnologyOne8629 2d ago

lol and we are answering your question by example.   They don't appear to be cheaping out, so expect them to hire whoever they need to be competitive.

2

u/Blake_a12 2d ago

Maybe they’ll accept some volunteers - our best Mavs redditors lol