The Knicks, being the rational, forward-thinking organization that they are, fired team president Steve Mills on Tuesday — just days ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
And according to multiple reports, the Knicks already have a dream candidate in mind to replace Mills. It’s Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri.
There’s just a couple problems with that: Ujiri is under contract with Toronto through the 2020-21 season, which would require Jim Dolan to either be patient (lol) or give up assets to Toronto. There’s also the whole Masai Ujiri publicly said he hated the Knicks thing.
In a 2014 interview with George Stroumboulopoulos (the tweet below incorrectly says 2015), Ujiri said, “I hate the Knicks.” Not exactly the kind of quote you’d want from a person to lead, well, the Knicks.
Here’s a 2015 clip of Masai Ujiri saying he hates the Knicks pic.twitter.com/FWsgNMLl3a
— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) February 4, 2020
On one hand, hate is a strong word — even stronger when a person says it publicly and on TV. But Dolan would probably look past those comments if it meant getting Ujiri, and Ujiri could probably look past his Knicks hatred for a boatload of money.
But these are the Knicks we’re talking about — the same Knicks that were certain they were landing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and every other marquee free agent the past decade. In all likelihood, Ujiri will remain in Toronto and the Knicks will continue their incompetence.
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