VIDEO: Masai Ujiri Just Guaranteed a Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Title
By Michael Luciano
Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who shocked the NBA world by acquiring Kawhi Leonard and subsequently riding him to Toronto's first-ever NBA championship, has been known as a more bold and brash decision maker than your typical team executive. And in a particularly on-brand move, Ujiri boldly guaranteed a Stanley Cup for John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven't lifted the trophy since the league expanded in 1967.
The Maple Leafs will win a Stanley Cup, Masai Ujiri guarantees it. pic.twitter.com/0BzCUTjI1j
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 25, 2019
Considering that both that Leafs and Raptors were known as perennial chokers for the better part of the millenium, a Toronto hockey championship would come as a bit of a surprise. But, to be fair, Ujiri didn't specify the season in which he was expecting this title to come.
Despite Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner on the roster, the Maple Leafs failed to make anything out of their 100-point regular season. Playoff disappointments have been a regular occurrence in Toronto for the last 52 years running, leading some Leafs fans to be a bit skeptical of Ujiri's prediction.
LOL we could teach all the players on the raptors to skate and play the game of hockey and they would still win a Stanley cup before the leafs ?
— Asia (@AsiaDefreitas) June 25, 2019
With the Blues, a last-place team in January, winning Lord Stanley's Cup this year, it's understood that anything can happen in the parity-laden NHL. And who gave the Raptors much of a chance at the start of the NBA Playoffs, after all?