DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks named Matt Redfield assistant general manager on Thursday. Redfield is one of 17 hires the team announced for its basketball operations department ahead of the 2026-27 season. Patrick Engelbrecht joins as vice president of global talent identification and international affairs, and Nico Berg will serve as executive director of health and performance.
Michael Finley is moving into a new role as senior director of player, community, and alumni engagement. Finley served as co-interim general manager with Matt Riccardi after Dallas fired Nico Harrison in November.
Three of the new hires spent time with the Toronto Raptors. Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri was with the Raptors for 13 seasons, most recently as president and vice chairman, before Toronto fired him in June 2025. Dallas hired Ujiri on May 4 and named Mike Schmitz general manager four days later.
Matt Redfield And Patrick Engelbrecht Arrive From Toronto Raptors
Before joining the Raptors, Redfield was director of AI products at Second Spectrum in Los Angeles, where he worked with NBA teams and the league office on player tracking data and analytics. He spent the last five seasons, from 2021 to 2026, as Toronto’s senior director of strategy and analytics.
Engelbrecht was with the Raptors for more than 13 years. Most recently, he served as Toronto’s director of global scouting and international affairs, overseeing international talent evaluation and the club’s global basketball initiatives. Engelbrecht is a native of South Africa.
Tim Chung is the new director of basketball operations. He spent eight years in the Raptors organization, starting with Raptors 905 in the G League before moving to Toronto’s front office. For the past three seasons, Chung was senior manager of basketball logistics and operations with the Memphis Grizzlies.
On the salary cap side, Blaise Ross joins as senior director of basketball salary cap and strategy. Ross earned a bachelor of business administration from Notre Dame and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, then worked as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. He spent the last five years at the NBA league office as associate vice president and senior associate counsel for player matters. The Mavericks also promoted DJ Sewell to manager of basketball cap and strategy and associate counsel.
Ijeoma Ofomata takes on a dual role as the Mavericks’ manager of scouting and assistant general manager of the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate. Ofomata played professionally in Europe for 12 years before joining the NBA as a basketball operations liaison for the Basketball Africa League in 2020-21. From 2022 to 2023, Ofomata was the league’s senior manager of basketball operations, player development, and team management. For the last three years, Ofomata worked for the Milwaukee Bucks with a focus on scouting.
Joe Touomou was named director of Africa/player development and scouting. A former Georgetown player, Touomou began his coaching career at Missouri and later scouted for the Indiana Pacers. He most recently served as technical director of NBA Academy Africa.
Joseph Tipton is the new director of global player strategy. Tipton was most recently an investor at Helios in London, where his portfolio included work on NBA Africa, Afro Nation, the PFL, and large-scale sporting facilities.
Nico Berg And Ally Wade Named To Health And Performance Roles
Berg is a physiotherapist who has worked across the NBA, NFL, and NHL. He earned a bachelor of science in physical therapy from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in physiotherapy from the University of Queensland. From 2010 to 2014, Berg consulted for the Minnesota Timberwolves on core strength, performance, and injury prevention. Most recently, he was co-owner and physiotherapist at Lynn Valley Orthopedic and Sports Physiotherapy.
Ally Wade is the team’s new director of mind health. Wade started her career as a doctoral psychology intern with the University of Oklahoma athletics department, then spent six years, from 2017 to 2023, as director of mental health services for SMU Athletics. For the last three years, she has been a licensed psychologist at Dallas Mental Health and Performance. Wade is also listed on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee mental health registry, with specialties in stress, trauma, and life transitions.
The Mavericks also hired Katie Babcock as massage therapist and athletic trainer, Kevin Clerkley as assistant athletic trainer, chef John Bauer as director of culinary operations, and Erica French as general manager of the Mavericks Performance Kitchen. On the scouting and development side, Matt McGann is the new video scouting manager, Ron Meikle joins as a pro scout, Justin Serresse joins as a global scout, and Dame Wall joins in player development.
Marc Oelkers was promoted to senior manager of basketball systems. Julia Bateman begins a new role as special assistant to the president, and Cole Emanuel begins a new role as special assistant to the head coach.
Finley played nine seasons for the Mavericks and was a two-time All-Star before joining the front office in 2013. In his new role, he will support the front office and work on relationships among Mavericks players, alumni, and the North Texas community.
Dallas holds media day Friday at 10 a.m. CT, and training camp practices begin Saturday. The Mavericks play the Houston Rockets at The Venetian Arena in Macao on Oct. 9 and Oct. 11 as part of the NBA China Games.
