Mavericks hire Mike Schmitz away from Trail Blazers as GM days after naming Masai Ujiri president

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DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks hired Mike Schmitz as general manager on Friday, naming the Portland Trail Blazers' assistant GM to his new role three days after introducing Masai Ujiri as team president and alternate governor.

The announcement gives Schmitz the title Nico Harrison held until he was fired in November, nine months after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a move that backfired badly on the franchise.

The Mavericks said Schmitz would oversee day-to-day management and strategic alignment in the club's basketball operations department.

The move comes with Dallas still not having provided any clarity on the future roles of Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi. They were named co-interim GMs when Harrison was fired and engineered the trade of Anthony Davis, the centerpiece acquired by Dallas in the Doncic deal, to Washington.

Schmitz and the Nigerian-raised Ujiri have strong ties to Africa. Schmitz has spent time working on youth basketball development in Ujiri's homeland and has served as an assistant coach with the Ugandan national team.

Schmitz joined the Trail Blazers in 2022 after spending five years as a draft analyst at ESPN.

“I have tremendous respect for Masai, this ownership group and the vision they have for the future of the franchise,” Schmitz said. “I'm excited to get to work alongside the talented people already in place and help build a championship-caliber organization.”

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