Cynt Marshall likes to joke that it took two people to replace her—and she’s not wrong. Marshall made history in 2018 when she became the NBA’s first Black female CEO, hired by Mark Cuban to address workplace culture issues that were plaguing the Dallas Mavericks. She announced her retirement in December 2024, a year after Cuban sold the team to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, majority owners of Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The sale signaled a new era for the franchise, moving from personality-based ownership to a more corporate structure. Cuban ran the team like a fan. New team governor Dumont approached his role with more formality. He saw profound opportunities—and mounting pressures—to modernize business operations. Then there is the arena. American Airlines Center was a shiny upgrade when the Mavs and Dallas Stars moved from Reunion in 2001. But now, 25 years later, the facility is showing its age.
Dumont’s day job with Sands Corp. is to develop massive, high-end resorts that combine hotels, gaming, convention space, and entertainment. He married into a family of pioneers in the sector, focusing on what’s known in business tourism as MICE—meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions, alongside gaming and luxury leisure. The company sold its properties in Las Vegas in 2022 to focus on Asian and emerging markets. Its latest project is an $8 billion expansion in Singapore; it also operates five properties in Macao, including the 6,000-plus-room Londoner.
Although the family had long dreamed of owning an NBA franchise, they also see it as an opportunity to get back into the U.S. real estate market in fast-growing Dallas. Renovating the AAC was never going to cut it. For the entertainment district Sands envisions, it needs as many as 50 acres—and to control its venue outright, separate from the Stars. The two co-tenants, whose leases expire in 2031, are now locked in a messy legal dispute, with the Mavs alleging breach of contract and the Stars claiming a hostile takeover of the arena.
We want to be the team that wears Dallas on our uniforms—and actually plays in Dallas.
Faced with navigating the course ahead is CEO Rick Welts, whose work on Chase Center for the Golden State Warriors and an arena renovation for the Phoenix Suns—plus a career full of operations milestones—earned him induction into the hoops Hall of Fame in 2018. He’s joined by 51-year-old Ethan Casson, former CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, the WNBA franchise in Minneapolis, who became the Mavs’ first-ever president last July. Regarded as an operations guru, Casson also brings real estate credentials as a key player in developing Levi’s Stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.
Welts, now 73, came out of retirement to take on the role. He has admired the Mavericks since the early 1980s, when he worked in the NBA’s league office in New York. “The organization transformed how we did business in the NBA,” Welts says. “[Mavs co-founder and GM] Norm Sonju and his staff had a level of professionalism and expertise that had not existed before. … Then, there’s the unbelievable history of fan support, year in and year out, and the growth of Dallas. So, the corporate community and the way business is done here, the fan support, and ownership that I believe is going to invest whatever it takes to make this organization the best in the NBA—all those things combined—I thought, ‘If I’m ever going to do this again, Dallas is the place I would do it.’”
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A young Rick Welts (bottom right) worked as a trainer with the Seattle SuperSonics, a job that ignited his lifelong passion for the NBA.
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Rick Welts, Ethan Casson, and Mavs coach Jason Kidd are guiding the franchise through a pivotal transition under new ownership.
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Ethan Casson during his playing days at Colby-Sawyer College, before charting a career in basketball operations.
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Ethan Casson in fifth grade, sporting the Boston Celtics shooting shirt he wore for nearly every elementary school pic.
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Rick Welts grew up in Seattle, Washington, “where coffee was perfected,” he says. He loved the energy of the city. “I thought it was the greatest place in the world—I still do,” he says. He was about 3 years old when his only sibling, a sister, was born. His parents let him name her. “They gave me two choices—Barbara or Nancy,” Welts says. “I chose Nancy, so she’s had to live with my decision-making her whole life.”
Everyone in his family had attended the University of Washington, so after graduating from Queen Anne High School in 1971, he followed the same path. He studied journalism. As a senior in high school, Welts made a 20-minute film that railed against the proposed redevelopment of Pike Place Market, the country’s oldest public farmers market, known for its wader-clad, fish-throwing vendors. (It’s also home to the first Starbucks, which opened there in 1971 and still uses the original bare-breasted mermaid logo.)
Welts came of age during Watergate, when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein set the standard for investigative journalism, and was emphatic about trying to save the market. He coerced his dad into being his cameraman, holding the 8mm steady while Welts did on-the-street interviews. “I put together a documentary film and got bitten by the bug,” he says. “I never wanted to be in front of the camera, but I thought I could be a producer. There was a time—something I have to explain to young people today—when journalists were heroes and truth-tellers. I was very inspired by that.”
He also was inspired by sports, which Welts describes as “the currency of my relationship with my dad.” The two began attending University of Washington football games when Welts was still a toddler. After the city won an NBA franchise in 1967—in the era of basketball icons like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain—Welts and his father added SuperSonics games to their outings. The energy of the crowd was intoxicating. “You had 14,000 people in an arena who didn’t know each other, cheering for the same thing—with a huge amount of community pride,” Welts says. “That, more than anything, drew me in.”
At Queen Anne, the coolest kid in school was Earl Woodson, a ball boy for the SuperSonics. One day, Earl strolled into English Lit class and announced that his family was moving. Welts seized the moment, telling him, “You’ve got to introduce me to whoever hires the ball kids.” Earl did, and Welts got hired. “At 16, I had my dream job,” he says. “I was in the locker room with my heroes and watching games from a courtside seat.”
Six months later, Welts was promoted to assistant trainer. Today, he says, the job requires a graduate degree. Back then, it mostly required knowing how to run a washer and dryer and getting the uniforms to the right lockers. “I joke about it, but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t draw on some experience from that time with the team,” Welts says. “Imagine being a fly on the wall that nobody pays attention to and getting to see the dynamics of how a team works—or doesn’t work—the players, trainers, owners, media, and taking it all in. It was like a graduate class for what I do today.”
While Welts was wrapping up his studies at the University of Washington, a young Ethan Casson and his family were getting settled in the small New Hampshire town of West Chesterfield, having moved there from Connecticut. The clan included Casson and his twin brother, Jeremy (the two look nothing alike), an older sister by four years, and a younger brother by six. His father worked for a trucking company; his mom was a teacher’s aide. “I was always motivated by the idea of working with some level of purpose and passion,” Casson says. “I wanted to have that joy of waking up and feeling like I was part of something. Even when I was young, I felt my parents didn’t get to experience that, and it stuck with me.”
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The spark came early. One day, Casson’s father showed him a newspaper clipping about a youth basketball league called the Junior Pros. “My twin brother and I were just jumping up and down with the idea that we could go play this game that we were already falling in love with,” Casson says.
Growing up in New England—Celtics country—only stoked the fire. Casson’s dad found an old transistor radio at a dump and fixed it so the twins could listen to games from their bunk beds at night. “He’d let us stay up late, without my mom knowing,” Casson says. “We’d have to work to find a signal, but we’d listen to Johnny Most call Boston Celtics games—with Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge—the list goes on.”
The next morning, the boys would reenact the games in their driveway before school. “I’d wear my Larry Bird shooting shirt every day,” Casson says. “My mom says that for the first five years of school pictures—from first to fifth grade—I wore the same Celtics shirt.” Fueled by their obsession, the twins sharpened their skills and moved into AAU circuit. Casson began to think that basketball might offer a different trajectory for his life. After graduating from Keene High, he and his brother played at Division III Colby-Sawyer College, a private liberal arts school in New London.
By his sophomore year, reality began to set in. Casson realized his chances of making it as an NBA player were slim. But maybe he could find a different way to stay in the basketball world. He aggressively pursued internships and, during his junior year, snagged an opportunity to work for the legendary Jeff Twiss with the Celtics. “He’s arguably one of the greatest media and public relations executives ever,” Casson says. “He was there for all the championships. It was like when Rick was doing laundry for the SuperSonics—I got to see everything that was critical to the team’s growth.”
One of Casson’s main responsibilities was old-school cutting-and-pasting. He’d pore through the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and scores of local publications, snip out stories about the team, glue them to pieces of paper, and photocopy the pages. He’d then hand-deliver packets to people throughout the organization, from coaches to executives. As he roamed the halls, a lightbulb went off. “I saw how many jobs there were within teams, with people doing different things,” Casson says. “I didn’t have an idea of where I wanted to land or what I wanted to do—other than stay in the family.”
OFF THE CLOCK
Ethan Casson, President
On Rick“I don’t believe anyone cares more deeply about the history of the NBA. And despite everything he’s accomplished, he leads with humility.”
What Fans****Should Know“The Mavericks are entering an important new chapter—one built on stability, ambition, and long-term thinking.”
Local Fare“My favorite restaurant so far is Catch. I love the food, the service, and the overall vibe.”
Best Concert“The Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour in 2013, with Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z.”
Fun Fact“I have a twin brother who is 10 minutes older, has red hair, and is 6’5”.
Leadership****Advice“My mom taught me that leadership begins with showing up—consistently, authentically, and with purpose.”
Casson used his morning packet route to build connections with others and kept stacking up internships—even after graduating with a degree in sports management. By the time he was 22, he had worked in a half-dozen, intern-type roles. With his résumé and passion, he thought landing a full-time NBA job would be easy. It wasn’t. Instead, Casson took whatever work he could find—landscaping, substitute teaching, and bartending—while chasing his dream. He slept on the couch at his aunt and uncle’s house, halfway between New York and Boston. He cold-called every NBA team alphabetically, faxing résumés and leaving messages on team 800-numbers. For two years, he desperation-dialed. Then, in February 1999, a woman named Jean Sullivan in HR for the Minnesota Timberwolves finally picked up. She listened politely, told him that there were no openings, and said they’d keep his résumé on file. “I wouldn’t let her get off the phone,” Casson says. “I was close to begging. I said, ‘Just let me come out; I’ll pay for it myself. Just help me meet with people in the organization. I just need someone to bet on me.’”
The following Monday, he was in Minnesota. Twenty-four hours later, the Timberwolves offered him an entry-level job that paid $24,000. “I was broke and had no car and didn’t know how I was going to pay the bills, but none of that mattered,” Casson says. “I was in the family I had always talked about. It was the beginning of what has turned out to be a 26-year journey.”
In Seattle, Welts parlayed his job as a trainer into a marketing and public relations post with the SuperSonics, working part-time while studying communications at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1975, he was promoted to PR director. In 1982—three years after the team won its first and only championship—Welts left his beloved Seattle to join the NBA’s league office in New York. During his 17-year tenure there, he created the NBA All-Star Weekend, led marketing for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics “Dream Team,” and helped launch the WNBA.
His success as an institution-builder shaped the next chapter of his career. In 2002, Welts began a nine-year stint as president and COO of the Phoenix Suns. In 2011, he moved to California to take the same role with the Golden State Warriors. Over the next decade, Welts helped lead the organization through one of the most dramatic transformations in modern sports. The franchise evolved into a global powerhouse, with five consecutive NBA Finals appearances and three championships. Monumental changes also happened off the court. Welts played a central role in the complex and politically charged relocation of the team from Oakland to San Francisco—two cities connected by the Bay Bridge but a world apart.
I was always motivated by the idea of working with some level of purpose and passion.
Ethan Casson, President
At the center of it all was Chase Center. Welts spearheaded the financing and development of the $1.4 billion arena, including its surrounding “Thrive City” restaurant, shopping, and entertainment district in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.
“From a professional experience standpoint, it was absolutely extraordinary,” Welts says. “But I had done everything I could do, and it was going to be a different phase and a different kind of job going forward.”
So, in 2021, at the age of 68, he retired. But he didn’t fully disengage. Among other projects, he advised the ownership group behind the Seattle Kraken NHL team as it explored bringing an NBA franchise back to the city, a mission Welts describes as “a labor of love.” (The group is led by Samantha Holloway, named executive chairman after the death of her father, Fort Worth billionaire David Bonderman, who co-founded TPG Inc. The NBA could add two teams this year, with Seattle and Las Vegas widely viewed as frontrunners. The SuperSonics were rebranded as the Thunder after moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. If Seattle is awarded an NBA franchise, it’s expected to reclaim the SuperSonics brand.)
Then, three years into retirement, Welts’ phone rang. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wanted to talk about Dallas. “You’ve heard Cynt Marshall is retiring as CEO of the Mavericks,” Silver said. “Do you know the new owner, Patrick Dumont?” Welts answered, “I’ve never heard of the guy.” Silver asked if he’d be willing to talk with Dumont and help him frame what the organization might need next. Welts said, “Of course.”
The first conversation took place over Zoom. “Patrick was immediately disarming—not at all what I expected from a billionaire sports owner,” Welts says. “He was soft-spoken and friendly. He asked a lot of questions, and we just talked about the business.” That first call led to another, then Dumont asked if Welts would be willing to spend the day in Las Vegas. At the time, Welts and his husband, Todd, were nearby in Palm Desert, California. Dumont offered to send a plane.
Welts spent six uninterrupted hours with Dumont in his Sands Corp. office. “He never took a call or looked at his phone,” Welts says. “We talked about business philosophies, the ingredients of a successful team, and what he thought he was looking for.” The conversation continued over dinner at Miriam Adelson’s home, where they were also joined by Dumont’s wife. The four sat at the end of a table “that could have seated 30 or 40” people, Welts says. Adelson shared how it had been a dream of hers and her late husband’s to someday own an NBA team, and her surprise at the way things had unfolded.
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Welts led development of the $1.4 billion Chase Center, which was privately financed by Golden State’s ownership and investors. Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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Casson played a pivotal role in building Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers’ Santa Clara home that hosted Super Bowl 50 and Super Bowl LX. Kirby Lee-Imagn Image
A few weeks later, Welts was named CEO. “Patrick is a very good recruiter,” he says. “His very unassuming demeanor, his intellectual curiosity about his new enterprise, how he wanted to take something and make it great, all impressed me.” Still, Welts is clear, this was not a comeback he would have made just anywhere. “I wouldn’t have done this for maybe 29 other teams,” he says. “But Dallas is special.”
In the mid-2000s, Casson, then a vice president with the Timberwolves, traveled to Phoenix to tour the newly renovated America West Arena with a group of other NBA executives. Rather than building new, as many teams were doing at the time, the Suns had overhauled the existing facility. “It was very innovative and progressive—even more so than some of the new arenas,” Casson says. “The atrium was just magnificent. And when you walked in, there wasn’t just a box office where you got a ticket; there was a digital activation. It felt like an experience.” Leading the tour was Welts, who had overseen the transformation. Casson was determined to meet him and nudged his way to the front of the group. He was greeted warmly. “Rick is the kind of person who treats someone who’s at the beginning of his career the same way he treats the commissioner of the NBA—there’s no difference,” Casson says.
Their paths crossed again in the Bay Area. Casson joined the 49ers in 2010. One year after, Welts moved to the Warriors. The two organizations—neighbors but operating in different leagues—paid close attention to each other. Welts was especially interested in the NFL franchise’s development of Levi’s Stadium. The ever-aggressive Casson, who had risen to COO, played a key role in the massive project. Casson, in turn, admired Welts’ work on Chase Center. “The Warriors were doing things that no one had ever seen before,” he says. “You have these two iconic brands in the same market, building iconic facilities.”
In February 2016, Levi’s Stadium hosted Super Bowl 50. Casson began feeling the itch for a new challenge—and the pull of his first love, the NBA. Two months later, he was at a wedding reception when he ran into Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. The two began chatting about San Francisco. “By the time we got to the entrée, he started to ask questions about me coming back to Minneapolis and taking on the CEO role of the Timberwolves and Lynx,” Casson says. “It was a surreal—almost 17 years to the day after I made that first cold call.”
OFF THE CLOCK
Rick Welts, CEO
On Ethan“What I admire most is the depth of his experience and his touch with people.”
What Fans****Should Know“The Adelson-Dumont family is committed to North Texas and to provide all the resources necessary for the Mavs to compete for championships.”
**Local Fare:**“I love Hillstone’s grilled artichokes and rotisserie chicken.”
First Concert“My first concert was the original Beach Boys, with opening act Jan and Dean, at the Seattle Center Coliseum.”
Fun Fact“My favorite part of every day is an early dog walk with our two rescue terriers.”
Leadership****Advice“Leaders lead by example.”
Alternate****Reality:
“I would be telling great stories through my journalism.”
Upon returning to California, Casson called Welts and invited him to breakfast to get his advice. “I just needed to run it by one other person I trusted,” he says. Welts’ guidance helped clarify the decision, and Casson joined the Timberwolves for what became a nine-year run as CEO. Last summer, after owning the franchise for 30 years, Taylor sold it to Alex Rodriguez and billionaire serial entrepreneur Marc Lore.
Months earlier, Casson had again reached out to Welts—after the Mavericks traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. “It was a wellness check,” Casson jokes. They stayed in touch. With the T-Wolves sale, Casson knew his time in Minnesota was coming to an end. Through ongoing conversations—and as Welts gained a clearer sense of what was needed in Dallas, the idea for a new role, team president, took shape. Dumont gave it the green light.
“The skill sets that Ethan has are invaluable for the next step of our growth,” Welts says—moving from “a basketball team to a sports and entertainment company that operates its own arena and district.” As Welts focuses on site selection, civic negotiations, and the complexity of developing an arena-anchored mixed-use project, Casson is working to strengthen the team from the inside out. “There’s a lot of work to do to build the internal organization,” Welts says. “I give Patrick all the credit in the world. There’s no other setup like this that I’m aware of—certainly not in our league—where you’re willing to hire two people with this level of experience, not just one, and let them build something together.”
At some point, the Mavs will need to hire a new general manager. Dumont fired Nico Harrison in November after early returns on his Luka trade failed to meet expectations. In the interim, VP of player personnel and former Mavs player Michael Finley alongside assistant GM Matt Riccardi are handling GM responsibilities. The arrival of No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg has helped boost optimism, but the wins have been hard to come by.
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Mavs phenom Cooper Flagg became the first rookie since Michael Jordan to record four straight games with 30+ points and 5+ rebounds. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
On Feb. 4, 2026, Finley and Riccardi shipped Anthony Davis—the injury-prone All-Star that Harrison got in return for Dončić—out of town, picking up five draft picks and a stable of players in return. “With a guy like Cooper Flagg, hopefully we put the right pieces around him and bring excitement back for fans,” Finley said after the trade was finalized.
Welts, meanwhile, is focused on the arena. He and the Mavs have narrowed the site possibilities to two options—the former Valley View Center in North Dallas and a downtown location that could involve razing the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall. “We envision not only the greatest place to watch NBA basketball and hear concerts, but an environment that combines hotels, restaurants, retail, and great public gathering places,” Welts says. “We want to do it in Dallas. We want to be the team that wears Dallas on our uniforms—and actually plays in Dallas.”
Welts notably leaves a casino out of the project’s plans for now, as the legalization of gambling seems unlikely in the near term, despite the Adelsons pouring millions into lobbying efforts in Austin.
The next several months are critical. The team aims to select a site by July 1 so the arena can be ready to open for the 2031-32 season. For Welts, the opportunity brings him back to his earliest memories—watching SuperSonics games with his father in Seattle, surrounded by strangers cheering for the same thing. After five decades in the NBA, he’s chasing one more chance to create a place where memories are made, shared, and passed on.
Teams, Welts believes, don’t belong to the people who run them. They belong to the fans. They belong to the city. “Sports are a unifying force,” he says, “a little island of joy in this crazy world.”
Along with a winning team, that connection is what he and Casson are building toward—not just a new arena, but what Casson calls a “communal campfire.” One that’s meant to burn for generations.
Author
Christine Perez
Christine Perez
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Christine joined D Magazine Partners in 2010 and is editor of D CEO and its digital platforms. A national award-winning business journalist, she has covered North Texas since 2000. She’s especially proud of creating the Dallas 500, launching D CEO Greater Good, and building an exceptional editorial team. Originally from northern Michigan, she loves skiing in the U.S. and abroad, hiking trips to Lake Tahoe, stargazing, gardening, and playing pinball. More than anything, though, she treasures being a grandmother.