Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has finally addressed the Luka Dončić trade and admitted that he “underestimated” the fan response to the decision.
Welts spoke with Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News and said he “probably underestimated the reaction” to the Mavericks sending the 25-year-old superstar to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“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,” Welts explained. “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.”
Welts noted that the fans’ reaction was unlike anything he had seen during his career in the NBA.
“I thought I’d seen everything in my 47 years in the NBA, but clearly this was different,” he told DMN. “I think a lot of people of good intent tried to do the right thing.”
Although many fans have expressed displeasure with the Mavericks’ decision, others from within the NBA and the City of Dallas have expressed their support and trust in the organization.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Mayor Eric Johnson spoke out about the trade and said that it “can’t ever be the case that any one person makes or breaks any organization.”
“Because anybody can blow out a knee, or anybody can be incapacitated or hit by a bus or anything else. And so, if the Dallas Mavericks are a legitimate franchise that’s well run and worthy of being the NBA franchise for a city like Dallas, it can’t be that one single player was going… We were going to pin all of our hopes for the next 25 years on one player,” added Johnson while speaking with DX.
Similarly, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discussed the trade during All-Star Weekend and said fans should “believe in their organization.”
“Their organization truly made a trade that they believed was in the best interest of the organization, and in many cases, again, it doesn’t mean they were right or wrong, but it’s very difficult to put yourself in their shoes,” added Silver, as reported by DX.