The Dallas Mavericks announced Oct. 28 that CEO Rick Welts will retire at the end of 2026. Team president Ethan Casson becomes CEO and alternate governor on Jan. 1, 2027, the team said in its announcement.
Welts is 73. The Mavericks hired him out of retirement in December 2024. He told The Dallas Morning News the job was never meant to be long. “At the time I said yes,” Welts said, “I said yes for two years.”
“We’re making a pivot. It’s transition time,” he told the paper.
In the team’s statement, Welts said he was “incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made,” the Associated Press reported.
Ethan Casson, Former Timberwolves CEO, Takes Over the Mavericks Jan. 1
Casson started as Mavericks president in August 2025. He’d spent nine seasons as CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, and before that he was chief operating officer of the San Francisco 49ers.
Welts told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver about his plans Oct. 23 in a private meeting in New York, the Morning News reported.
“When Ethan joined the Mavericks, we knew we were adding an accomplished leader who could help us build for the long term,” team governor Patrick Dumont said in the statement.
“His impact on this organization, our industry, and on me personally is difficult to overstate,” Casson said of Welts.
Welts told the Morning News he calls Casson “Rick Welts 2.5.” Silver told the paper he doubts Welts is done. “I don’t believe the last chapter of Rick Welts’ NBA journey has been written yet,” Silver said. “Don’t be surprised if he re-emerges as a consultant to another team or another city. I’ll just say that.”
How Welts Came Out as Gay in 2011 While Leading the Phoenix Suns
Welts was president and CEO of the Suns in May 2011 when he came out publicly in a New York Times story by Dan Barry. At that point he was the highest-ranking executive in men’s pro team sports to come out, the Warriors noted in their 2021 announcement.
He left Phoenix later that year and ran the business side of the Golden State Warriors from 2011 to 2021. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted him as a contributor in 2018, his Hall of Fame biography confirms. In January 2020 he married his partner, Todd Gage, in a ceremony performed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Valley View Arena Plan Looms Over the Mavericks Leadership Change
Welts led the Warriors’ move into Chase Center in 2019. Dallas brought him in partly to do it again. The team holds options on 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site in north Dallas, and its American Airlines Center lease runs out in 2031.
D Magazine read the retirement as one more sign Valley View will be the site. It also covered Welts’ talk this week with Bloomberg’s Randall Williams at Bloomberg Invest Dallas, where he explained why he came back. “You know, there’s a reason they call it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, because nobody would be stupid enough to do it twice,” he said.
Welts also ruled out gambling. “We have committed that there will be no casino element at all to the project that we’re building,” he said.
“I’ve seen this movie before,” Welts told the Morning News. “I know how it’s going to turn out, and it’s going to be phenomenally successful.”
Welts stays on as CEO through Dec. 31.
