Raptors' Ujiri: Contract decisions 'last thing on my mind'

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Given the current state of global affairs, Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri is not overly concerned with upcoming extension decisions - his own or those pertaining to the team's coaching staff.

"To be fair, you know, it's not kind of where our minds are at right now ... like me, certainly," Ujiri said in a conference call Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's Michael Grange. "This is a crucial time, I think, for the world, and those things will come. I'm fine, we're fine. It's honestly like the last thing on my mind.

"I'm concerned for the world and I'm concerned about this pandemic and how we beat it, how we fight it. We have to win this one."

Ujiri's contract runs through the end of the 2020-21 season. The New York Knicks dismissed president of basketball operations Steve Mills in February and were reportedly targeting the 49-year-old architect of the reigning NBA champions. However, the Knicks ultimately announced former agent Leon Rose as team president in early March.

Nick Nurse - among the top candidates for Coach of the Year for piloting the injury-riddled Raptors to a 46-18 (.719) record before the hiatus - and much of his coaching staff are also only under contract through 2020-21.

Until the basketball world returns to a semblance of normalcy, Ujiri, like so many others, will remain locked in on new information and directives about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m basically stalking Dr. (Anthony) Fauci like the next NBA draft pick, you know?” Ujiri said, name-checking the highly visible director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.