It is not hyperbole, but rather a statement of fact, that Rick Welts has conquered every conceivable challenge during his legendary 46-year career as an NBA executive.

How legendary? He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, a class that included Mavericks coach Jason Kidd.

Why, then, has Welts, at age 71, signed a multi-year contract to succeed Cynt Marshall as the Dallas Mavericks’ CEO?

“Life was going great,” a smiling Welts explained during an exclusive sit-down with The Dallas Morning News, “and then I got introduced to this guy, Patrick Dumont.

“There’s a set of circumstances here that fits the pattern of what I’ve done in the past. As historically successful as the Mavericks have been, I think the next 10 years have the opportunity to be pretty extraordinary.”

Dumont has been the Mavericks’ governor since last December, when his family purchased the franchise’s controlling interest from Mark Cuban.

During a news conference Wednesday, Dumont will formally introduce former Golden State Warriors president and COO Welts as his first major Mavericks hire. How major? Dumont told The News that Welts will serve as his alternate at NBA Board of Governors meetings.

Marshall’s six-year tenure won’t formally end until her retirement becomes official Dec. 31, but Dumont stunningly was able to replace a transformative figure in Mavericks history with a Hall of Famer.

“Whenever you have potential to have a leadership change in an NBA franchise, there are a few executives you dream of working with,” Dumont said. “Rick’s name is always at the top of that list.”

A hire of historic proportions

Welts’ NBA career began in 1969 as a 16-year-old Seattle SuperSonics ballboy. He rose to become Seattle’s public relations director, receiving the first of his four NBA title rings in 1979.

Hired by then-NBA deputy commissioner David Stern in 1982, Welts eventually became the league’s third-in-command from 1996 to 1999 as executive vice president, chief marketing officer and president of NBA Properties.

He was president of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury from 2002 to 2011 and oversaw Golden State’s business operations from 2011-2021, a period during which the Warriors went to five NBA Finals and won championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

The Mavericks in effect are getting the Bill Belichick of NBA executives, but without the gruff persona. On Jan. 21, Welts coincidentally will be the same age as new North Carolina football coach Belichick.

“We are serious about being a top franchise and winning championships,” Dumont said. “We will invest in top personnel and bring great leadership to this franchise.”

Welts is best known for creating NBA All-Star weekend (1984); coordinating Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he contracted AIDS; marketing the 1992 Dream Team; co-founding the WNBA (1996); and, in 2011, becoming the first high-ranking executive in men’s pro sports history to publicly acknowledge he is gay.

Of greater and more recent relevance to the Mavericks and Dumont, Welts shepherded every aspect of Golden State’s seven-year efforts to build and open (in 2019) San Francisco’s $1.4 billion Chase Center.

Dumont in multiple interviews with The News has made no secret about wanting to build a new arena for the Mavericks, perhaps as part of a casino-resort development if gambling is legalized in Texas.

“That’s a big factor,” Dumont said. “Rick oversaw the development and opening of one of the world’s top arenas. That’s very relevant experience for the type of investment and what we’re trying to create here in Dallas with the Mavericks.”

Welts’ fit with Mavericks culture

Perhaps as remarkable as the hire was its covertness.

Welts said he and Dumont were connected through mutual friends about two months ago, shortly after Marshall’s October retirement announcement.

“Our initial conversation was just about, ‘Would there be some way we could work together?’” Welts said. That led to Welts traveling to Nevada and spending a day with Las Vegas Sands COO Dumont; his wife, Sivan; and her mother, Mavericks majority owner Miriam Adelson.

The more they spoke, Welts realized Dallas’ similarities to Phoenix and Golden State, the notable difference being that the Suns were near-perennial first-round playoff losers from 1995 to 2003; the Warriors missed the playoffs all but one season between 1994 and 2012.

“The Dallas market? Unbelievable,” Welts said. “The number of headquarter businesses that are here. Historically great fan support. What’s different about this place is it’s a hell of a basketball team. So, boy, talk about being ahead of the game.”

On Nov. 19, Welts came to Dallas to spend part of the day meeting with Marshall and Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison; touring a half-dozen prospective homes; and attending reigning NBA Finalist Dallas’ home game against New Orleans, seated with Harrison.

Welts has close relationships with Harrison and Marshall. Welts and Harrison met in Phoenix about 15 years ago, when Harrison was a Nike player representative.

Marshall says Welts was among the first NBA executives to reach out when she became CEO in 2018, amid reported allegations of two decades of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within the franchise’s business operations.

“I have unbelievable admiration for what she walked into and how she created a culture that addressed all the issues,” Welts said. “So, great news is I think the culture’s terrific. That’s the least of my concerns.

“In fact, it’s only a concern that we can maintain that level of culture in the organization that she accomplished. She made a profound impact, not only on the Mavericks, but I think also within the NBA as well.”

Dumont and Welts agreed that the top of the Mavericks’ hierarchy will be the triangle structure that was employed at Golden State and Phoenix during Welts’ time there.

Welts will oversee the Mavericks’ business operations; Harrison the basketball operations. But the basketball and business halves will work closely together whenever possible. Welts cites the fact that when Steve Kerr became Phoenix’s general manager in 2007, he asked whether he could attend Welts’ weekly business operations meetings.

“Nico and I don’t have a reporting relationship with each other,” Welts said. “We both report to Patrick, and I think that’s the right way to do it.

“In 2024 you need an engaged owner, but Patrick’s mandate, and my belief and Nico’s, is when you have your business and basketball operations working together, you really have an opportunity to do something.”

While speaking to The News about Welts’ potential Mavericks impact, Dumont made a point to laud Marshall’s six-year tenure — and to thank Cuban for hiring Marshall, Harrison and Kidd.

“The culture Cynt created and the success she’s helped foster has been amazing,” he said. “Cynt is larger than life in the community and the good news is she’s still going to be around, still helping us, still part of the family.

“I’d also like to recognize Mark Cuban for what he’s contributed as a leader of this organization. We hope to build upon the legacy that he left for us — and consult and work with him going forward.”

Embedding in Dallas

Make no mistake, though: Hiring an executive of Welts’ stature is Brooklyn-raised Dumont making his own Texas-sized imprint on the organization.

It’s also a statement to fans, the city of Dallas and the NBA that Dumont intends to make the Mavericks franchise elite in every sense.

“It’s wonderful to have Rick back in the league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told The News via email. “The Mavericks are getting a terrific marketer and team operator who has a long history of success in establishing strong relationships with fans, business partners and the local community.

“Rick will be a fantastic addition in Dallas.”

Naturally, as he nears his 72nd birthday, many will wonder how many years Welts will invest in the Mavericks and Dallas.

Although he left the Warriors in 2021, saying he’d accomplished all he could with that organization, it’s not as though he’s slowed much.

For the past three years he’s devoted considerable time to helping his hometown of Seattle and the owners of the NHL’s Kraken prepare for the possibility of NBA expansion, specifically to Seattle, which lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Welts also has been an advisor for San Francisco-based Sixth Street Partners, a global investment firm whose $75 billion in investments include a 25% stake in FC Barcelona, 20% ownership of the San Antonio Spurs and full ownership of Bay FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.

NBA conflict of interest rules require him to pause his expansion efforts for Seattle, but Welts is eager to devote time to his new role, once he and husband Todd Gage are done unpacking the multitude of boxes in their new Dallas home.

If not for his silver hair, it would be difficult to believe Welts is a septuagenarian.

“Dallas has always seemed like a really intriguing place to live,” he said. “I feel like I still have all the energy. I have 46 years of experience in trying to present this product in a way that fans enjoy.

“I just think the opportunity to do that one more time was irresistible. It’s the combination of Patrick as governor, his vision for what we want, and the city.”

Welts paused and laughed.

“And I had to follow Klay Thompson here because he’s one of my favorite players of all time. I can’t wait to see him again.”

Two nights earlier, Welts watched on TV as Thompson scored a season-high 29 points to help the Mavericks beat the Warriors in the state-of-the-art arena that Welts “poured seven years of my life into” building.

“It was so weird,” he said. “I texted both Patrick and Nico during the game, saying, ‘You can’t imagine how strange it is sitting here, watching these two teams play each other.’”

Dumont is so exhilarated to land his first major hire — a Hall of Famer, no less — that if he’s concerned about Welts’ length of tenure, it certainly isn’t evident in his words or the excitement in his voice.

“Well, he looks ready to go to me,” he said. “All we’ve talked about is investing some money and going forward to do some great things together — and having a great franchise.

“That’s really where we went with this. So let’s see where it goes. I think it will be great for the Mavericks and great for our city.”