Mavericks hire Mike Schmitz as general manager

The Dallas Mavericks are starting to fill out their front office under new president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri.

Mike Schmitz has been hired as the team’s general manager, the team announced Friday.

According to the team’s press release, Schmitz will report to Ujiri and will oversee the day-to-day management and strategic alignment of the team’s basketball operations department.

“Mike is one of the most respected evaluators and basketball minds in the NBA,” Ujiri said in the release. “He brings intelligence, discipline, humility and a relentless work ethic to everything he does. Just as importantly, he understands how to build an aligned, collaborative culture across every part of a basketball organization. We are building something special in Dallas, and Mike will be a major part of that vision.”

He has spent the last four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as their assistant general manager. Before taking that job — his first in an NBA front office — he had worked as a draft analyst for ESPN since 2017.

Schmitz had also previously served as a global scout for DraftExpress since graduating from university in 2012 and has strong ties to Africa, having worked as an assistant coach for the Ugandan national team in 2018.