Mavericks CEO Rick Welts Admits He "Probably Underestimated The Reaction" To The Luka Doncic Trade

Jamie Sabau. Getty Images.

Just when you thought we've heard and seen it all and we can all collectively move on when it comes to the Luka Doncic trade, a new tidbit comes out and you simply can't ignore it because of how batshit insane it is. I know it can feel like piling on or Mavs fans, but as I've tried to make very clear in all these Luka blogs, this isn't about dunking on Mavs fans. My heart feels for them for being subjected to this bullshit that not a single fan asked for. With each new detail we get, it's almost as if the Basketball Gods are obsessed with twisting the knife in the backs of that fanbase, and honestly nobody deserves what has transpired over these last few weeks.

The latest update comes from the Mavericks CEO Rick Welts. Now you may be asking yourself, who the hell is Rick Welts? He's a basketball exec who has basically been in the league since 1969, and most recently before joining the Mavs was a key figure of the Warriors Dynasty, where he was part of the brain trust that won 3 out of 5 titles from 2015-19, and the Mavs brought him on this past January.

It's safe to say he's a pretty important figure within the Mavs front office, which makes his takeaway from the trade rather insane

"I thought I'd seen everything in my 47 years in the NBA, but clearly this was different," Welts said. "I think a lot of people of good intent tried to do the right thing.

"I probably underestimated the reaction. I think we've done the best we can, basically, with the staff and trying to do the right thing with everybody who touches the Mavericks."

"It's incredibly emotional, an incredibly difficult time for so many people. But I still believe we're going to come out on the other side, with a future that's incredibly bright. That's kind of my glass-half-full approach there."

Uhhhhhhhhhhh what? You underestimated the reaction? How on earth is that even remotely possible? Did everyone in the Mavs front office from their ownership group to Nico Harrison to the CEO seriously think that an entire fanbase wouldn't immediately revolt once this trade was announced? How is there nobody in that room that says

"Hey, maybe this is a terrible idea that will kill our brand equity with the people who's money we need?"

I can understand the basketball people not thinking about that. They should only care about the on the court stuff and not the business side. But the CEO? How can you be around the Mavs and "underestimate the reaction" of the fanbase for trading a 25 year old franchise MVP caliber player? 

My question is, what did he think the reaction would be? If he's suggesting that he underestimated how fans would react, that leads me to believe he (and others) may have been under the impression that the fanbase would be somewhat OK with the move. How can so many people be so out of touch with their own fanbase, especially when it's supposed to be your job to be in touch with that same fanbase?

Based on the reporting it's still a little murky as to when the Mavs CEO found out about the trade, but what it does do is shed light on how that entire building was thinking during this whole fiasco. They basically thought it was no big deal to move Luka from both a basketball and a business/PR standpoint, and personally I find that to be the most interesting part of all of this. Were there people in the room who pushed against this idea and were overruled? Is everyone now lying and trying to spin this as a positive thing given the mandate that came down from ownership? You'll remember, it didn't take long for the Mavs side to start leaking all this outrageous shit when it came to Luka, so maybe everyone is now just trying to toe the company line?

Who knows. But I find it pretty incredible that the Mavs front office seems a bit shocked that the fan reaction ended up being what it was. What did you think was going to happen????? And sadly, it's probably going to get worse before it gets better. All the ticket package cancellations, TV cancellations, fans boycotting games, every game experience being about firing Nico, and then on the basketball side every single center on the Mavs has gotten hurt and will be out for a prolonged period of time.

Every update we get around this trade seems to be more insane than the last, so I don't even know what to expect moving forward. How much worse could it get? For the sake of Mavs fans, my hope is that the worst is over but it's probably just getting started.