Fans were left scratching their heads over a recent take from Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts about the infamous Luka Doncic trade.
On Tuesday morning, Welts and Mavericks GM Nico Harrison held a “closed-door” meeting with select members of the Dallas media. Welts reportedly wanted to focus the discussion on a proposed new arena for the Mavericks in the next decade. Media members present understandably wanted to ask more questions about the Doncic deal instead.
Harrison reportedly kept repeating the same three-word statement whenever he was pressed on trading away Dallas’ former Slovenian star, “Defense wins championships.”
Welts, a top Golden State Warriors executive from 2011 to 2021, later compared the Doncic trade to another polarizing deal that helped jumpstart the Warriors’ dynasty. According to D Magazine’s Ben Swanger, Welts recounted a similar, albeit much smaller public outcry over the Warriors’ decision to trade franchise icon Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for Australian center Andrew Bogut in 2012.
Several fans on social media slammed Welts, with many calling the Mavericks front office the most “out of touch” organization in sports for making such a comparison.
Might be the most out of touch organization in sports
— Zac – Immortal (@WhosImmortal) April 15, 2025
Mavericks CEO Rick Welts compared the Mavericks trading Luka to the Warriors trading Monta Ellis 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Jeffrey Cooperstein (@Jeff_Coop27) April 15, 2025
They are the most clueless out of touch front office in the history of sports
.@tim_cato said on @DLLS_Mavs that Mavs CEO Rick Welts compared the Luka Dončić trade to the his former team Warriors trading Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut in 2012.
— Mavs Film Room 🐴🎥 (@MavsFilmRoom) April 15, 2025
Unbelievably out of touch.
The Ellis-Bogut trade did lead to multiple championships for Golden State despite some protests from the Warriors. But that was largely because Ellis’ departure opened the door for Curry to become the bona fide first option on the team.
Losing Ellis was addition by subtraction for the Warriors, which is not something you can argue for the Mavericks losing Doncic. Many fans pointed out that Doncic was supposed to be Curry, and not Ellis, in the comparison Welts had given.
rick welts comparing the luka doncic trade to when the warriors traded monta ellis is insane.
— Jasmyn Wimbish (@JasmynWimbish) April 15, 2025
and then go follow it up to say “the warriors had steph curry and he made the fanbase fall in love with him.”
luka is steph, not monte in this analogy what are we talking about???
The backlash the Mavericks are facing has extended far beyond the confines of social media. The Doncic trade is projected to cost the Mavs a gargantuan chunk of revenue due to declining fan interest in the team.
