Mavericks executive makes lofty promise while organization is on thin ice with fans

For the first time in a long while, the Dallas Mavericks have a winning streak going.

After what looked to be a disaster for the Mavs by almost having to forfeit games due to not having enough players available to play, Anthony Davis has returned to the lineup, and now, health is starting to look better by the day for the Mavs.

Although Mavs fans can't forget the unfathomable trade that sent Luka Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Mavs front office seems pretty confident in earning fans back. Rick Welts took the job as the new Mavs CEO back in December of 2024. On the local KFAA broadcast during the Mavericks-Knicks game, he made remarks on a new arena in the early 2030s, but he also made a bold promise to the fanbase that winning will cure everything in the future.

Welts assures Mavericks fans that championships will be won

As Mavs fans will forever have the traumatic experience of their homegrown star, Luka Doncic being traded in the middle of the night, the only thing to possibly make up for something of that magnitude is simple enough. Win championships. Welts talked about that on the local broadcast on the road in New York.

"Whatever trust we've lost, or whatever concerns (Mavs fans) have, we're going to earn it back because we're going to do this the right way and we're going to win championships," Welts said.

Even if the Mavericks were going to make it back to the promised land like they did in 2011 and 2024, the window for solving that championship puzzle just got even tighter. By trading for an older Anthony Davis, the Mavericks arguably destroyed their future by allowing the keys in the hands of Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson, all guys who are over 30 years old and in the back halves of their careers.

This was a bold thing for Welts to say pretty early in his tenure, but it also goes to show a real change in management. Donnie Nelson was replaced by Nico Harrison, Mark Cuban is now just a minority owner with Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont taking over as majority owners. These new faces really show a true change in brains and leadership that really believe that trading away Luka Doncic was the answer.

This isn't necessarily a tone-deaf response by Welts, but the organization has shown they are all in on their cards with Irving and Davis leading the way instead of Irving and Doncic. After all, the writing was on the wall for the past few years when the organization changed drastically while Doncic was in Dallas.

While what Welts said about winning championships was a bold thing to say, considering the mess the Mavs are in now, reassuring that championships are on the way is a possibility when Davis and Irving take the court together.