The Dallas Mavericks hired Mike Schmitz as their general manager on Thursday, putting one of the NBA’s most closely watched talent evaluators into a new role under president Masai Ujiri. Schmitz left the Portland Trail Blazers for Dallas, where he will report to Ujiri and oversee the day-to-day management and strategic alignment of the team’s basketball operations department.
Ujiri praised the hire in a statement, calling Schmitz one of the league’s most respected evaluators and basketball minds. He said Schmitz brings intelligence, discipline, humility and a relentless work ethic, and added that he understands how to build an aligned, collaborative culture across every part of a basketball organization. Ujiri also said the Mavericks are building something special in Dallas and that Schmitz will be a major part of that vision.
The move gives Dallas an executive with a long track record in scouting and player evaluation. Schmitz worked for as one of the network’s top draft analysts for five years beginning in 2017, then joined the Trail Blazers in 2022 to work under general manager Joe Cronin. Before that, he was a video coordinator for the Bakersfield Jam in the G League in 2012/13 before beginning scouting work for DraftExpress, and he has served as an assistant coach for the Ugandan national team since 2018.
His Portland tenure included work in player evaluation, scouting, roster strategy and organizational planning, and the team drafted Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen during that span. The hire comes after a turbulent stretch for Schmitz in Portland: last month, he and fellow assistant general manager Sergi Oliva were suspended for two weeks without pay after the NBA determined the Trail Blazers had illegally contacted Yang in 2023.
For Dallas, the appointment signals a clear bet on an executive whose reputation was built on identifying talent early and helping shape organizational direction. For Schmitz, it is a sharp pivot from a scouting-heavy track to a front-office job that puts him at the center of basketball decision-making from day to day.
