Rick Welts is one of the great trailblazers for LGBTQ people in sports.
When Welts came out publicly as gay in 2011, he was the President and CEO of the Phoenix Suns. At the time, Welts came out publicly with the support of NBA legend Bill Russell, NBA Commissioner David Stern and Steve Nash, who was at the time a star for Welts’ team, the Suns.
His building of a coalition of supporters, and sharing his being gay and their support, in the New York Times sent shockwaves through the pro sports world.
Since then, Welts has been hired by the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks due to his business acumen and his deep familiarity with the NBA. While he was President of the Warriors, the team won two NBA Championships and solidified a deal to build an arena in San Francisco.
That was Rick Welts.
Yet it’s his return from “retirement” to full-time work as the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks that has catapulted him again into the middle of the conversations around the NBA, a league he’s been a part of since he first worked for the Seattle SuperSonics in 1969.
For all of those reasons and more, Rick Welts is Outsports’ selection for No. 1 atop our 2025 Power 100 list.
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Rick Welts has contributed to the NBA and WNBA for 55 years
Welts didn’t see himself getting back into the NBA in an official capacity when he retired in 2021. Still with his hand in the work, he continued to consult with the Warriors, and the NBA front office leaned on him as well.
It’s easy to understand why. Welts was one of the architects of the Dream Team, the 1992 Summer Olympics USA men’s basketball team that included NBA players for the first time, the greatest basketball team — maybe the best sports team — ever assembled: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley.
The closest game they had at the Olympics: A 38-point win over Puerto Rico.
Plus, Welts was instrumental in bringing the WNBA to life and promoting it in the league’s early years, even before the league tipped off for its first game. For his work launching the WNBA with then league president Val Ackerman, Brandweek named Welts their 1998 Marketer of the Year.
Welts is also recognized as having supported the LGBTQ community within the NBA and WNBA even before he came out.
Welts could have certainly stayed retired, sat on his laurels, continued to consult and live a wonderful retired life in the desert of Southern California.
Dallas Mavericks bring Rick Welts back to the NBA
Yet when the Dallas Mavericks came calling, Welts opened his mind to the possibility of returning to the NBA in an official capacity and joining a team in an executive role.
As CEO, Welts is responsible for much of the business side of an NBA franchise, something he’s perfected with the Suns and Warriors.
Since he joined the team earlier this year, Welts and the Mavericks have also been the beneficiary of some extraordinary luck since he joined the team, winning the 2025 NBA Draft lottery, beating out the Chicago Bulls with a coin toss then having their name pulled for the No. 1 Draft pick with only a 1.8% chance.
The team used that pick to select Duke forward Cooper Flagg, considered by some to be a unique, “generational” talent. If Flagg pans out, the Mavericks could be headed for years of success.
That will be crucial for the team, as the Mavericks plan for a new arena, which Welts has said will hopefully open in 2031. Welts’ success securing an arena in San Francisco for the Warriors bodes well for him in his new role.
Now Welts — with decades of a rich history of success in the NBA both in the league front office and its teams — is the CEO of one of the 10 most valuable NBA franchises. The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly worth a reported $4.7 billion.
Welts has received countless much-deserved accolades over his incredible career in the NBA. His placement on the Outsports Power 100 is less an accolade, honor or award and more a basic reflection of the career he now continues in Dallas.
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