Toronto Raptors’ GM Masai Ujiri on inspiring kids, the growth of basketball in Africa and what comes next

Fifteen years ago, 18 NBA representatives, including current Toronto Raptors President and GM Masai Ujiri, trekked to the continent of Africa to hold youth basketball clinics in Kenya, Zaire and South Africa. It was there that former David Stern met Nelson Mandela, who relayed a message to the former NBA commissioner.

“Sports was a unifier for a nation whose youth had in some ways suffered,” Mandela said then.

Ujiri, born in Nigeria, remembers being a wide-eyed young player that derived hope from meeting Kareem Adbul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson. In 2003, inspired by Mandela, he launched Giants of Africa. Every year, the foundation raises funds for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

On Aug. 4, the 2018 NBA Africa game will also support the foundation, in honor of his centenary, with over 400 players, executives, coaches and legends present.

“It’s unbelievable,” Ujiri tells SB Nation. “It’s my 16th straight year in South Africa with Basketball Without Borders. One year, we went to Senegal and another year we went to Angola, but my 16th straight year doing this. It’s growing.

Three days prior to the game, the Basketball Without Borders Africa 2018 camp opened up. In partnership with Hoops 4 Hope, WNBA and NBA players engaged in drills and seminars with young athletes across the continent to bolster their skills on and off the court. The goal: to teach important life skills, like leadership and communication, through basketball. Players have also been working alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers to build homes in Lawley, just south of Johannesburg.

In the lead-up to the third annual Africa Game on Saturday (11 a.m. ET, ESPN2), SB Nation caught up with Ujiri to talk about Basketball Without Borders, the growth of Giants of Africa, and what he hopes is next for basketball in the continent.

(Ujiri declined to answer specific questions about the Raptors’ blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard, other than to say his first meeting with Leonard went “as good as it possibly could have,” with “good interaction, good communication, good questions.”)

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

SBN: What were the seminars and drills today like?

MU: It’s just such a fun group. They do all these drills with us. They use songs and dances to motivate — African songs and African dances and signs. It’s really cool.

Kids in Africa, or all over the world, it’s not all of them that are going to be NBA players. At the end of the day, you can teach all of the skills you want, but some of them are going to do other things. We have to start teaching them those things, whether its saying your name confidently, whether it’s how to shake a person’s [hand], whether it’s talking about where you come from. Just doing the primary things that kids take for granted these days, especially with social media and maybe a lack of as much interaction with each other.

I think it’s really important in these camps that we do these things so they can communicate, interact with kids from other countries and other regions.

What’s the most important thing you can empower these kids with?

It’s leadership, it’s communication, it’s empowering women, it’s respect, it’s honesty. Talking about things outside of basketball. The basketball skills are the basic fundamentals we try to teach them here, but I think those things are very important.

We have to preach them at a young age to be a good follower. Not all of us are going to end up being leaders, but those basic things I think are important in the continent and all over the world, especially with the things going on in the world these days.

Why is gender equality so important to you?

I have a mother. I have a wife. I have a daughter. I have sisters. I can see just in my experience in my life, where sometimes they have been just put to the side in some of the things that they do.

To be honest, women just make us smarter. They make us better. I’ve noticed that in my workplace. I’ve noticed that at home. I’ve noticed that in my past experiences in life.

I just feel that there has to be parity. There has to be equality. The only way for us to keep doing it is not only to keep saying it, but to act on it. We have to do that. I can’t just continue to speak on it and not act on it.

I take pride in the women we hire in our organization. Talking about it in camps, including more girls camps with Giants of Africa. I think eventually, some way, some how, you empower some young girls here or women here, and it will amount to something else like giving another kid, another girl her confidence. Boy or girl, the youth of the world deserve opportunity and we as leaders have to be the ones that at least create a path for them.

Have you noticed a shift from the first time you went to Basketball Without Borders to now?

The game is so visible now. I think that helps us a lot, comparing it with other sports. If the players are on a screen on [the kids’] mobile phones, you see them close to you. There’s no helmets. I think people are relating so much to basketball now. That is helping us grow the game.

Not only that, there’s more Africans in the league. I think there’s 12 now playing. It’s more Africans in front offices and coaching. It’s what Adam [Silver] is preaching on developing the game in Africa. It’s remarkable.

We have to take the next step. The next step for me is, how do we form leagues? How do we build more facilities on the continent? That’s what we have to push.

How does it feel to watch that growth?

The NBA has done such an unbelievable job in bringing people here. I mean, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is here. What a legend. I remember my coach bringing him and Oscar [Robertson] to Nigeria. These are things that will affect the continent forever— affect the kid.

It feels great but when you’re in it, you don’t see it as much because you keep trying to make it better. At the end of the day, you can sit here and pat yourself on the back for what you’ve done, but it means nothing if you can’t continue to grow. We have an opportunity.

As long as I have the position that I have in in the NBA, it’s an obligation that I have to continue to grow the game here. I have to be a voice. I have to continue to help and dedicate this time in Africa to grow the game.

What drives you to do all this?

I was a kid like all these young kids here I see. I was a youth just like them. I grew up in northern Nigeria. I see them, I see myself. I see myself, I see them. It’s amazing. I sat down in camps in Zaria and dreamt big, imagined really big, even.

So I know what those kids feel. I know how they think. I know how smart these kids are. You want opportunity for them. You want to help create that. You don’t know where it’ll work out.

It’s amazing having Pascal [Siakam] back here who sat down in the camps just like these kids in 2012. That’s what we have to do in our position. I see myself in them, I see them in myself.