Tag: Masai Ujiri

Bedlam ensued, with Anunoby swarmed by …

Bedlam ensued, with Anunoby swarmed by his teammates as the executives, staff and family members all went wild. In the nearby hallways that leads to the locker rooms, Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster were in disbelief. And VanVleet, the Raptors guard who had finally finished a television interview on the floor where it all went down, walked briskly by his basketball bosses with a message that should concern the Celtics. “They f—– up,” he said of the Boston squad that was so close to being up 3-0 in the series. “They fucked up now.”

The Alameda County (Calif.) sheriff’s …

The Alameda County (Calif.) sheriff’s deputy suing Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri for assault after Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals in Oakland accused the executive of exploiting current “pervasive anti-law enforcement prejudices” to paint himself as a victim when in fact he had broken the NBA’s own security rules, in a new court filing today. In August, Ujiri filed a countersuit against Alan Strickland, who was working as a security guard and not for the sheriff’s department that night when he physically prevented Ujiri from accessing the Oracle Arena court for the Raptors’ Finals trophy presentation. The countersuit included bodycam footage that appears to support Ujiri’s contention that Strickland shoved Ujiri twice.

But in Tuesday’s filing, Strickland …

But in Tuesday’s filing, Strickland wrote that Ujiri did not have the proper credential, and the NBA had previously warned security to be on the lookout for unauthorized persons trying to gain access to the court. “The body camera video which plaintiff produced on July 17, 2020 did not reveal any new information to Defendants,” Strickland wrote, arguing it only provided a new angle of what arena footage already showed. “In reality, Defendants brought this motion to take advantage of the now pervasive anti-law enforcement prejudices and to falsely allege racial animus and prejudicial bias is the reason for Plaintiff Alan Strickland’s conduct on the date of the incident.”

Masai Ujiri says the officer who shoved him after NBA Finals did it ‘because I am Black’

His words were powerful.

A year ago after the Toronto Raptors won the franchise’s first NBA championship on the road against the Warriors, team president Masai Ujiri’s celebration was tarnished by an encounter with a security guard at Oracle Arena.

Sheriff’s deputy Alan Strickland claimed that Ujiri instigated the incident and assaulted him as he tried to walk onto the court. He filed a lawsuit against Ujiri in February, citing “physical, emotional and psychological pain and suffering,” according to the Globe and Mail.

Ujiri filed a countersuit against Strickland and the Alameda police department saying that the events that occurred were falsified and painted him as an aggressor.

Video released earlier this week as part of the countersuit proved Ujiri’s point. It revealed that he was initially shoved twice by the officer as he was making his way to his team on the floor before reacting in any way. The incident was captured on the officer’s body camera.

On Thursday, Ujiri reacted publicly to the video being released for the first time in a statement. In it, he astutely pointed out how success is not a deterrent for racist attacks against Black people in America.

“I was reminded in that moment that despite all my hard work and success, there are some people, including those who are supposed to protect us, who will always and only see me as something that is unworthy of respectful engagement. And there’s only one indisputable reason why that is the case — because I am black.”

Unfortunately, Ujiri’s statement is spot on. His success is not a deterrent to racism.

He also made it a point to say that it was because of that success that he had the resources to clear his name. Many other people who look like him don’t have those same privileges.

Ujiri has remained a class act throughout all of this. He could’ve issued a statement that was much harsher than this and he wouldn’t have been wrong to do so.

Instead, he chose to use his words to push forward a greater cause and shine a light on the inequities Black people and people of color face in America every single day.

Shoutout to him. Hopefully, he’ll get the justice he deserves soon.

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Josh Lewenberg: Statement from Masai …