Norm Sonju

Norm Sonju (born 1938) is an American former basketball executive. Along with Donald Carter, Sonju co-founded the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and was the team's president and general manager from 1980 to 1996. He was also the president and general manager of the NBA's Buffalo Braves from 1977 to 1978.

Early life Sonju was born in 1938. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois and played high school basketball at Carl Schurz High School, where he was a starting guard. He played college basketball at Grinnell College, and missed the second half of his senior season due to a leg injury.

In 1977, new Buffalo Braves owner John Y. Brown Jr. hired Sonju to be the team's president and general manager; At one point during his stint as Mavericks GM, he opened weekly staff meetings with a Bible study session and said it was wrong for women to work. On January 28, 2026, at halftime of the Mavericks game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sonju was honored in a ceremony and presented with a framed No. 80 Mavericks jersey. The first 5,000 fans at the game also received a Norm Sonju bobblehead.