Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis went through a trying time after the 2018-19 season wrapped up for his franchise, soon firing his longtime president Ernie Grunfeld and embarking on a quest to find his next front office executive. It didn’t take long after Game 6 of the NBA Finals for rumors to swirl about a potential interest in Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, one Leonsis claims is untrue to this day.
Ujiri had a conversation with Mike Forde, who was retained by the Wizards as a consultant in their search for a new front office executive, yet no direct interview with Leonsis was set up between the two.
Those were trying times for Leonsis, who was often swirled with rumors after dismissing Grunfeld.
“Somebody writes I’m going to make [Ujiri] run all of basketball and all of hockey. So that was uncomfortable, right?” Leonsis told Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. “One of my partners, fellow owners [Dick Patrick] who’s built one of the great franchises in all of sports, reads that. He’s mature enough, he calls me and says, ‘Hey, I know it’s not true, but that was an article I felt was odd.’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s not true, and it is odd.’ ”
Leonsis described this period as “noisy,” though none of the 78 conversations he had with various people leaked.
The Wizards owner was entering uncharted waters trying to find a new leader for his front office, but prying Ujiri away from a championship-winning team that was bound to reward him handsomely for his efforts just sounds like a suicide mission in the nature of the attempt, along with the timing.
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