Bryan Colangelo Steps Down as Toronto Raptors Team President

GM Masai Ujiri’s path to power has been cleared – Bryan Colangelo has stepped down as the Toronto Raptors’ team president, and will stay onboard as a consultant. Per the CP: “Bryan Colangelo abruptly stepped down from his role with the Raptors on Wednesday, ending their brief experiment as co-presidents of the squad. ‘Having had a better chance to reflect on things for the past several weeks, I have concluded that stepping away from my position is the best course of action for the organization and everyone involved,’ Colangelo said in a press release Wednesday. The 48-year-old Colangelo lost his job as general manager in May, after the Raptors went 34-48 and failed to make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. He remained as president in a non-basketball role, while Ujiri was hired as general manager and president of basketball operations. Ujiri insisted at his opening news conference there would be no problems working with the man who was once his mentor in Toronto. ‘There’s no issue with Bryan Colangelo,’ Ujiri said at his introductory news conference earlier this month. ‘No issue. None whatsoever. Zero zero issue. None.’ He did however make it clear who was running the team now. ‘I’ll take Bryan’s input when I feel it’s necessary, Wayne (Embry, Raptors senior advisor) has always been a great mentor to me,’ Ujiri said. ‘But at the end of the day, I’m going to put my staff together and we’re going to figure this all out collectively. But basketball decisions are going to be my decisions, so it doesn’t matter who tells me what or how it’s done, at the end of the day, I’m sitting right here on the hot seat.'”