Mavericks CEO Rick Welts was shockingly kept in dark about the seismic Luka Doncic trade

The Dallas Mavericks have been nearly three months removed since trading their franchise superstar Luka Dončić to the LA Lakers for Anthony Davis and other players. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has finally addressed his involvement in the deal.

At Wall Street Journal's The Future of Everything event on Wednesday, Welts said that he received the news one hour before everyone else did on February 1st, after a call from team owner Patrick Dumont. He was so shocked that he thought it was not Dumont on the other end of the call.

"I'm wide awake in bed... About 90 minutes before that I got a call from Patrick Dumont... 'Hey Rick, hey we're gonna make a trade,'" Welts recalled.

“'Okay great, what are we doing?'" he said.

Dumont then revealed the specifics of the trade, which also included Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Lakers, and Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round draft pick from the Lakers to the Mavericks.

"I'm like, 'who is this? Who is this really?' So yeah, I found out about an hour before you did,” Welts said.

Joey Mistretta

@@JoeyMistretta_

At the WSJ's The Future of Everything event today, which I was invited to attend virtually, Mavericks CEO Rick Welts was asked where he was when the Luka Doncic trade was made: "I'm wide awake in bed... About 90 minutes before that I got a call from Patrick Dumont... 'Hey Rick, hey we're gonna make a trade.'"

Welts: "'Okay great, what are we doing?'"

Dumont then revealed the news, according to Welts: "'We're gonna trade Luka to the Lakers.'"

Welts continues: "I'm like, 'who is this? Who is this really?' So yeah, I found out about an hour before you did. My first 30 days in Dallas were awesome. The next 100 not so much. It was an incredibly rough ride until a couple Mondays ago when it got a lot better."

#MFFL

Welts only became the CEO on January 1st this year, a month before Doncic was traded.

Welts said that it was rough 100 days following the trade, but winning the NBA draft lottery two weeks ago helped make things feel better again in Dallas.

“My first 30 days in Dallas were awesome. The next 100 not so much. It was an incredibly rough ride until a couple Mondays ago when it got a lot better,” he said.

Dallas missed the playoffs this year, losing in the play-in tournament to the eventual eighth seed Memphis Grizzlies. They were the 2024 Western Conference champions, led by Doncic, but lost to the eventual NBA champions Boston Celtics, in the NBA Finals.

---

Dallas Mavericks plan to get back to championship form next season

After winning the NBA lottery, the Mavericks are expected to draft consensus top pick Cooper Flagg, adding to a core led by Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and an injured Kyrie Irving.

For head coach Jason Kidd, this core could be enough to compete once more for an NBA title as soon as next year.

“We are playing for a championship…This isn’t about just rebuilding. (Cooper Flagg is) going to have help,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show on May 16.

For the Mavericks to compete next year, the hope is to keep their players healthy, unlike the slew of injuries late in the season that hurt their playoff hopes.