Three years ago, Hall of Fame NBA executive Rick Welts thought he was riding off into the sunset as he put the finishing touches on a successful career in top leadership roles with the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors.
The end of the 2020-21 season, he said, was supposed to be his final one in the NBA before his retirement.
Not so fast.
On Dec. 18, Welts was introduced as the next CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, giving the 71-year-old trailblazer yet another opportunity to lead an NBA franchise more than a decade after he came out as the league’s first out gay executive in 2011.
Welts brings decades of knowledge and experience to an organization navigating a recent ownership change earlier this year when former owner Mark Cuban sold his majority stake to the Adelson-Dumont group.
Mavericks governor (a modern-day term to refer to an NBA team owner) Patrick Dumont praised Welts, calling him one of “the most successful executives in the history of the NBA and a member.”
“To have him join us as we continue to build on the successful history of the Mavericks is a clear signal that this organization is serious about both growing its position as an elite NBA team and further positioning the franchise among the most popular sports teams in the world,” Dumont said.
Welts made it clear during his upbeat introductory press conference that he was not anticipating a return to an NBA executive role.
“The chance to lead this organization in this city at this time is both incredibly exciting and unexpected,” Welts said. “I appreciate Patrick’s confidence in selecting me to build upon the culture and success that Cynt Marshall and Nico Harrison have created. My long-standing friendships with them both give me a lot of confidence in accepting this opportunity. I can’t wait to get started learning all I can about Dallas and how best to serve our fans and this community.”
Since coming out, Welts has been involved in efforts to support LGBTQ athletes. In 2019, he spoke to Gay City News in a one-on-one interview during an event he co-chaired for Athlete Ally, which was honoring out trans high school track stars Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller of Connecticut.
“The two transgender student-athletes we’re honoring tonight are literally writing history every day of their lives,” he said at the time. “They’re doing it in a fearless way, not exactly knowing what the end of the story is going to be.”
Welts said news of his own coming out story prompted other LGBTQ individuals in the sports world to contact him and share experiences.
“The outreach I get weekly from somebody on a team or league who is kind of trying to figure all this out and connect with someone who would understand their experience, there is no greater honor than doing that,” Welts told Gay City News. “But none of that would have happened if I didn’t take the step of telling my story.”
Welts’ role as an out executive looms even larger now in light of the recent death of Billy Bean, a former MLB player who came out as gay after he retired and went on to serve as MLB’s senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. Welts told Gay City News that he and Bean, who died this past August at the age of 60 after suffering from acute myeloid leukemia, knew each other “very well” and that Bean was a “good friend” who was able to relate to the work they both did as executives.
Notably, Welts has also conveyed that he has been treated well in straight-dominated NBA circles during the time since he came out. His sexuality did not come up until an our into his job interview with the Warriors. One of the owners had asked very casually how his coming out story was received.
“It was so not on their radar,” he said. “It was like, wow, OK, I like the culture of this place.”
