Who is Masai Ujiri?
Masai Ujiri is the President of the Toronto Raptors who has made enormous strides in the global expansion of the National Basketball League (NBA). From early on, Ujiri had a passion for basketball and a dream of turning his love of sport into a career. As a teenager, Ujiri opted to leave his family in Nigeria to seek greater opportunities to pursue his passion for basketball, which ultimately lead him to play professionally in Europe for six seasons before beginning his executive career in the NBA. Launching his career in 2002 as an unpaid scout for the Orlando Magic, Ujiri worked his way through the ranks in the National Basketball League until he was hired by the Toronto Raptors as their Director of Global Scouting, a role that recognized his international connections. After a brief stint with the Denver Nuggets, early 2013 saw the return of Masai Ujiri to Toronto where he was promoted to the role of Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors. Following three years in this role, Ujiri was further promoted to his current position, President of Basketball Operations with the Toronto Raptors, in which he lead the Raptors to their first ever NBA title in franchise history in 2019. This promotion historically marked Ujiri as the first ever African-born President in NBA history.
A Passionate Visionary Supporting and Empowering Youth
As someone who grew up in Nigeria, Masai Ujiri is familiar with the abundance of untapped basketball talent in his home country but has also experienced first-hand the major roadblocks preventing this talent from being discovered and cultivated. In his time working to recruit upcoming players to various NBA franchises, Ujiri found that often, young African basketball players were not pursued for development, instead being described as “raw, lacking experience in the game and lacking access to coaching facilities”. This is exactly what prompted Ujiri to found the organization “Giants of Africa” in 2003, an organization aimed to increase access to facilities, and provide athletic gear and coaching to African youth. The inspiration for the creation of this non-profit came to Masai because as a former scout in the NBA, he knew that there was a plethora of untapped talent in Africa, and he could see a younger version of himself in many of the aspiring basketball players he met with in Nigeria.
Since the implementation of this program in 2003, Giants of Africa has how expanded into 17 countries within the continent of Africa, where they have built basketball courts, and initiated outreach programs in an effort to empower African youth and create opportunity for prospective professional players. To date, Giants of Africa has worked across Africa developing players of ages 15 to 19 at the national, international, and professional levels. The program has sent over 100 participants to educational facilities in North America and about 25 former participants of Giants of Africa have gone on to play for teams and clubs in Europe. With almost 20 years of service in African countries, the work of Giants of Africa and Masai Ujiri has now served as the inspiration for the Basketball Africa League, a professional men’s league that was founded in 2019 in collaboration with the NBA.
A History of Basketball in North America
In the history of sport, the expansion of basketball into a global market has been relatively recent. Looking back at the origins of basketball, the sport is widely believed to be created in 1891 by James Naismith, a white Canadian man who was working as a physical education instructor for the Young Men’s Christian Association, an organization which at the time, excluded black members (Robertson, 1995). In its early invention, basketball was typically played in Northern areas of the United States and Southern parts of Canada by white boys looking for physical activity in the winter months to escape the cold weather (Clevenger, 2020). As the sport began to gain popularity in the 1900s due to its relative accessibility and low equipment costs, the player demographics began to shift. The skills of black players began to gain recognition and eventually, in 1950, African American players were granted permission to enter the National Basketball Association (Griffin, 2012). This part of NBA history may be surprising as we now know the NBA to be considered am “industry leader” in racial diversity and equity (Griffin, 2012).
Money Talks: League Participation of Black and African Players in the NBA
Despite the picture of racial diversity and equality that has been painted by the National Basketball Association, there is a serious dark underbelly of discrimination that is prevalent in the NBA. Statistics indicate that the NBA is comprised of mostly black players, however, the vast majority of these black players are black Americans. A recent look at the diversity in the NBA has revealed that most of the black players in the league grew up the United States, in what can be considered stable, nuclear families of high socioeconomic status (Dubrow and Adams, 2012). Consequently, current league participation for black Americans is positively correlated with a middle-upper socioeconomic status more than any other racial group (Dubrow and Adams, 2012). Additionally, these black American players are compensated more generously for their work than white players and players who were born outside of the United States of America (Wen, 2018).
The question now is, why does the league favour black American players over black players from other countries, particularly countries in Africa? After the unpacking of the issue of discrimination in the NBA, it is clear that current discriminatory practices in the NBA are not only racial issues, but also class issues. As a consequence of this class discrimination, there is little room for entrance into the league for black players who are not of privileged backgrounds. Players without wealth are seen as unpolished, lacking the resources they need to develop their skills and as a result, they are not given the same opportunities as black players who have access to wealth. Additional perspectives regarding why players from African countries are often excluded from the NBA consider the global market for market for basketball programming. A media analysis was performed in Africa with the creation of the Basketball Africa League that revealed that in most African countries, little media coverage is given to basketball, with most sports programs highlighting football instead (Slater et al, 2022). As a large business that generates most of its revenue through advertising and viewership, this is problematic for the NBA. The combination of the inability of the media to generate money for the NBA through African viewership, and the outward preference for black players of wealth, converge to create harsh league discrimination against black African players, which ultimately results in African players experiencing limited opportunity for league participation.
The Commodification of Black Masculinity
When discussing the history of basketball in North America, it is essential to acknowledge the role that racist practices have played and continue to play in the sport. Since black players were allowed into the National Basketball Association in 1950, the significant issue of racial power imbalance has been prevalent in league practices. Despite the league being often commended for its efforts to promote and celebrate diversity, there is a massive discrepancy in diversity in the so called “white collar” roles in the NBA. In 2022, over 90% of team presidents in the NBA are white men, with only 7% of all team presidents being black. This statistic is especially concerning considering that the league is comprised of almost 72% black players, who work tirelessly to perform for these white team presidents. The truth is, the National Basketball Association relies on the commodification of black masculinity, selling the tailored image of black excellence to its millions of predominantly white fans to generate its impressive revenue (Dunne, 2017). A prominent counterargument of this point is that the players are compensated quite handsomely for their work, however, no amount of monetary compensation can modify the systemic power imbalances that have been prevalent in the league for nearly 75 years. The structural racism in the National Basketball Association relies on the stereotype of “Black Brawn vs. White Brains” which boils down the black men in the basketball industry to no more than physical performers (Hughey, 2015).
Further demonstrations of systemic racism in the National Basketball Association are apparent in what is referred to as “racial packaging”, which describes the deliberate marketing of black athletes in a manner that most appeals to the white audience of the NBA (Dunne, 2017). The scope of racial packaging includes methods such as NBA dress code, commentary, mandatory media days and the NBA’s minimum age requirements, all of which work to craft an image that is acceptable for white consumers (Dunne, 2017). One pointed example of this racial packaging can be seen in the work of NBA commentators, who are 86% white (Dunne, 2017). These white commentators are paid to provide discussion about black players and their actions on and off the court, ultimately representing the viewpoint of the NBA and the broadcast organization that employs them (Dunne, 2017). This one-sided narrative of the game allows the National Basketball Association to adopt a certain “whiteness” that ultimately contributes to an increase in engagement from their target audience, white viewers.
Paving the Way for Future Generations
The work that Masai Ujiri has done both in the National Basketball Association and with his organization Giants of Africa has created a new path that will allow young black people to envision themselves in sport leadership roles, that will award their intellect which is so often ignored. Not only is Masai Ujiri an excellent role model, but he is also a very vocal advocate for black youth, who is working hard to lay the groundwork to create opportunity for black children. Ujiri’s work is ultimately redefining the idea of “black manhood”, releasing black men from the idea that they must be physically strong to be successful (Majors et al, 1993). Thanks to the work of people like Ujiri, the global expansion of the National Basketball Association is underway, creating greater opportunity for education, diversity, and equity in the future.
Academic Works Cited
Clevenger, S. M. (2020). Transtemporal sport histories; or, rethinking the ‘invention’ of American basketball. Sport in Society, 23(5), 959–974. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2019.1597855
Dubrow, J. K., & Adams, J. (2012). Hoop inequalities: Race, class and family structure background and the odds of playing in the National Basketball Association. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 43–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690210384660
Dunne, S. (2017). WeAreTrayvonMartin: the racially packaged NBA commodity and the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. Sport in Society, 20(7), 924–937. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2016.1221934
Griffin R. A. (2012). The disgrace of commodification and shameful convenience: a critical race critique of the NBA. Journal of black studies, 43(2), 161–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934711412182
Hughey, M. W., & Goss, D. R. (2015). A Level Playing Field? Media Constructions of Athletics, Genetics, and Race. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 661(1), 182–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716215588067
Majors, Richard and Janet Mancini Billson, authors. Cool Pose: The Dilemmas Of Black Manhood In America. (1993). Journal of Correctional Education, 44(3), 144–. Correctional Education Association.
Robertson, N. M., & Mjagkij, N. (1995). Light in the Darkness: African Americans and the YMCA, 1852-1946 [Review of Light in the Darkness: African Americans and the YMCA, 1852-1946]. Contemporary Sociology, 24(2), 192–193. American Sociological Association. https://doi.org/10.2307/2076853
Slater, K., Burch, L. M., & Zimmerman, M. H. (2022). On the “Basketball Africa League”: Framing Analysis of the Broadcast Commentary of an African Professional Basketball League. Communication and Sport, 216747952211034–. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795221103408
Wen, R. (2018). Does Racial Discrimination Exist Within the NBA? An Analysis Based on Salary‐per‐Contribution. Social Science Quarterly, 99(3), 933–944. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12485
KNPE 397 