Mavericks CEO Rick Weltz really went there.
In an invitation-only media roundtable on Tuesday, Welz and Mavericks GM Nico Harrison confronted the decision to trade franchise player Luka Donsic for the Lakers for Anthony Davis before the February deadline.
That wasn’t surprising, but the example of Welt, used as a defense, somehow raised even higher brows.
Weltz, 71, made waves when he compared Donsic Davis’s big hit to a previous deal. He helped orchestrate for 47 years as an NBA executive in roles with the Warriors, Suns and Seattle, including in 2012 when Golden State traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Borgoot.
“The Golden State Warriors once traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut. Monta Ellis was loved. Bogut had no intention of playing that year. Bogut was not actually a marketing player. Welt said, Among his five consecutive NBA Finals since 2015 – 2019, he was the president and COO of the Warriors.
Last year, Donsic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals, so many viewed it as a lazy and biased comparison.
“All the Clowns Watching in the Front Office in Dallas.” I said in X.
“This has become a sick joke. They say they are intentionally doing this just to get us mad and move to Vegas!!!” Another addition.
Ellis and Donsic are not in the stratosphere about their performance in court.
Doncic, who was at the heart of the NBA MVP’s multi-season conversation, was a five-time All-Star and won the All-NBA first team five times.
The former third overall pick was last year’s NBA scoring champion, and he was Real Madrid’s Euroleague champion and MVP in 2018.
Ellis, the second round draft pick by the Warriors in 2005, was named the NBA’s most improved player in 2007.
Davis and Bogut are both big, but their level of play is dramatically different in comparison.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Weltz also pointed out that. Supersonix traded Renee Wilkens for Butch Beard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Wilkens later returned to Seattle and coached the team in the sole championship in 1979.
Weltz, who recently worked at Phoenix, recalled the Suns, who traded Stephen Marbury for cap space in 2004 before buying Steve Nash that summer.
It was the first time Weltz and Harrison have addressed the media together since Weltz was hired by the Mavericks in January.
Harrison reiterated his stance that the defense had won the championship and said he had no regrets about Don Chic trade.
