Latest news with #RickWelts
Bloomberg
28-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Dallas Mavericks CEO on Drafting Flagg, Trading Luka, New Arena
Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts talks about the future of the franchise with its newest start Cooper Flagg, what it was like trading away superstar Luka Dončić, the WNBA, streaming and media rights and the effort to build a new arena. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
28-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Dallas Mavericks Weigh Two Arena Sites Ahead of Cooper Flagg Era
The Dallas Mavericks are looking at two sites for a new arena and entertainment complex as the team prepares for its first season with Cooper Flagg, the top pick in this year's NBA draft. Both locations are within Dallas city limits and the franchise is aiming to choose one by early 2026, Chief Executive Officer Rick Welts said in an interview. The Mavericks are planning a development of as much as 40 acres (16 hectares) with hotels, restaurants and public space as they plan their future after their lease at the American Airlines Center in Dallas expires in 2031.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mavericks Reap Over $8 Million from Cooper Flagg's Impact
Mavericks Reap Over $8 Million from Cooper Flagg's Impact originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Dallas Mavericks went through a rollercoaster of a season. After general manager Nico Harrison made the shocking move to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around Anthony Davis, the team struggled. Advertisement That was largely due to Davis missing time with an injury and star guard Kyrie Irving tearing his left ACL. Regardless, from March 1 through the end of the regular season, the Mavericks went just 6-14, finishing 39-43 and securing the 10th seed in the Western Conference. They ended up in the NBA Play-In Tournament, where they won the first game but lost the second, which eliminated them from playoff contention. Dallas then went to the NBA Draft Lottery, where it won the rights to the No. 1 overall pick with the 11th-best odds. Former Duke Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg was the consensus top pick in every mock draft, and the Mavericks were not going to pass on him. They made things official on Wednesday night and are already reaping the benefits of landing the top pick and Flagg. According to Lovinger & Fine of BLOOMBERG NEWS, Mavericks CEO Rick Welts admitted the team "sold about" $8 million in new season tickets after winning the draft lottery. And once they selected Flagg, "almost 2,000 fans bought $125 Flagg jerseys from pop-up jersey printers in the arena and online." Advertisement Dallas Mavericks' first overall pick, Cooper FlaggJerome Miron-Imagn Images The Mavericks were already expected to compete for a championship without Flagg, but with him, they get even better. The 18-year-old was the National Player of the Year in his only collegiate season, averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while leading Duke to the Final Four. Flagg will get his first opportunity to represent the Mavericks at the NBA 2K26 Summer League, where he'll face the Lakers in Las Vegas. Tip-off is scheduled for July 10 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Related: Cooper Flagg Receives Big News After 2025 NBA Draft Related: Duke Posts Two-Word Message After Mavericks Draft Cooper Flagg This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
Bloomberg
26-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Cooper Flagg, Paige Bueckers Drive Dallas Basketball Bonanza
Four months after Dallas Mavericks fans held a mock funeral for the franchise outside its arena following the trade of star forward Luka Doncic, they rushed back to the team's home court to celebrate what they hope will be its rebirth. About 6,000 people watched from the stands of the American Airlines Center as the team selected Duke University's Cooper Flagg with the top pick in the National Basketball Association's draft Wednesday night. Almost 2,000 fans bought $125 Flagg jerseys from pop-up jersey printers in the arena and online, said Rick Welts, the team's chief executive officer.
Al Arabiya
23-06-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
'Craziest' Reversal of Fortune Puts Mavs on Path to Flagg After All the Doncic Drama
Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts wasn't thinking even for a second about Cooper Flagg when he started a staff meeting before the draft lottery by saying the club was entering the most important offseason in franchise history. The longtime NBA executive and relatively new leader on the business side of the Mavs was thinking about the lingering fallout of the widely reviled Luka Dončić trade–not the club turning a 1.8 percent chance into winning the rights to draft the teenaged star from Duke. Dallas is set to make that pick Wednesday night. 'Never ever did anybody in our organization ever even say what would happen if we win. That's a waste of time,' Welts told The Associated Press recently. 'Like it's unbelievable. It was hard to even get your head around.' The self-inflicted wounds were numerous after general manager Nico Harrison's stunning decision to send Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in early February. Fans were incensed. Season-ticket holders were canceling. Potential new sponsors were telling Welts they'd have to think about it. Just like that, the Mavs had a vision to sell of a potential superstar who could someday be the face of the franchise–as Dončić was and fellow European superstar Dirk Nowitzki before him. Just like that, despair turned to hope for plenty of people, including those under Welts who had spent weeks dealing with the wrath of a spurned fan base. 'It's got to be the craziest reversal of fortune,' Welts said. 'It would match any in the league's history.' Before the Dončić trade, Welts had already made a decision to raise season-ticket prices. He told the AP he had to back off on the size of the increase as he watched the visceral reaction unfold. Welts has seen plenty in nearly 50 years with the NBA, including time in the league office and stints with Phoenix and Golden State. Magic Johnson's HIV announcement. Accusations of widespread drug use in the early 1980s when he says there was a widespread belief that the league would fail. That's not to say the Dončić fallout didn't have a profound impact on the 72-year-old Welts, who had come out of retirement to replace Cynt Marshall just a month and a half earlier. It just means he has weathered a few storms. And now the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer isn't so sure he's ever seen the sun come back out so quickly. 'The thing that I learned through all of this experience was what I knew was like this amazing emotional tie between this team and these fans was even stronger than I think anybody who hadn't lived here and been a part of it could ever imagine,' Welts said. 'Just the outpouring of pure joy and the idea of a generational player that could change our fortunes for the next 15 years would land with us by pure luck.' Harrison's widely panned decision on Dončić was compounded by an injury to Davis in his Dallas debut followed by Kyrie Irving's season-ending knee injury a month later. The Mavs made the play-in tournament and won at Sacramento before their season–mercifully, perhaps–ended in a loss at Memphis with the No. 8 seed at stake. Part of what made the Dončić deal so hard to believe was unloading a 25-year-old superstar in his prime nine months after leading Dallas to the NBA Finals for the first time in 13 years. The Mavs lost to Boston in five games last June. Harrison's reasoning was prioritizing defense and his belief that Davis and Irving were a good enough tandem to keep Dallas as a championship contender. Flagg's potential gave that notion a boost. 'I feel like I'm a broken record, but the team that we intended to put on the floor, which you guys saw for 2 1/2 quarters, that's a championship-caliber team,' Harrison said. 'And so you might not like it, but that's the fact it is.' Welts, who believes the Mavs have work to do to bring their basketball and business sides together, will spend plenty of time during the early days of the Flagg era sharing his vision for a new arena. It's a big reason Welts took the job after spending seven years with Golden State on an arena plan that moved the Warriors across the bay to San Francisco from Oakland. He says all the talks are focused on keeping the team in Dallas. While the casino-centered Adelson and Dumont families of Las Vegas–in the middle of their second full year as owners of the Mavs–wanted gambling to be part of the formula for a new arena, the political realities in Texas have shifted the focus away from that idea for now. There's a new focus for Welts in what seems certain will be the final stop in an eventful NBA career: building everything around another potentially generational star after the Mavs jettisoned the one they had. 'Don't make this sound like I'm suggesting that everyone is forgiven,' Welts said. 'Luka will always be a big part of what this organization is. But for a large number of fans, it is a pathway–it's not a pathway, it's like a four-lane highway into being able to care about the Mavericks the way they cared about the Mavericks before.'
