DALLAS – The Dallas Mavericks have hired former Minnesota Timberwolves CEO Ethan Casson to be the team’s new president, the team announced Tuesday.
Casson spent nine seasons leading the Timberwolves and Lynx business operations. He previously was the Chief Operating Officer of the San Francisco 49ers. Casson stepped down from his position in Minnesota last month after the Timberwolves and Lynx completed the transfer of ownership from Glen Taylor to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.
Casson is the Mavericks’ second major hire on the business side since Miriam Adelson purchased a majority stake in the team from Mark Cuban in December 2023. Seven months ago, the Mavericks brought on Rick Welts as CEO. Casson will directly report to Welts.
Casson will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the business arm of the franchise. That includes working closely with Welts on the development of a new arena and entertainment district in Dallas. The Mavericks are hopeful to break ground on the project within a year. The team’s lease at American Airlines Center expires in 2031, and Welts has said the Mavericks want to move into their new home in time for the 2031-32 season.
“He will be my partner in charting the team into the future and will allow me to devote more time to our strategic priorities, including the building of our new arena and entertainment district in Dallas, and our transition from a basketball organization to a sports and entertainment company operating our own venue,” Welts said in a team statement.
Welts, who previously worked for the Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns and the NBA league office, spent a decade with the Golden State Warriors before coming to Dallas. Welts was a key figure in the building of the Chase Center in San Francisco. The $1.4 billion arena opened its doors in 2019. Casson and Welts have known each other for two decades and have worked together through the years, starting when Welts was with the Golden State Warriors and Casson was in San Francisco.
In April, Welts said the Mavericks were in the process of identifying a tract of land between 30 and 50 acres for the project. The Mavericks’ new arena will be a basketball-only facility, a change for a team that has shared a building with the NHL’s Dallas Stars for more than two decades. Mavericks team officials have consistently expressed optimism that the team will remain in the city limits once its American Airlines Center lease is over.
The Mavericks’ local TV deal is another project that could require Casson’s attention. Before the start of last season, the Mavericks parted ways with Bally Sports Southwest. The decision to broadcast games on free over-the-air TV allowed the team to nearly triple its potential viewing audience but significantly reduced revenue.
A new arena and entertainment district has the potential to be a major money maker for the Mavericks and offset the decline in local TV revenue.
“Additionally, we continue to be focused as an organization on efforts to enhance the game-day experience for our fans — in both the near-term and with the construction of a new state-of-the-art arena in Dallas in the years ahead,” Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said in a team statement.
What this means for the Timberwolves
Casson’s roots in Minnesota run deep. He was somewhat of a Timberwolves lifer, getting his start from the bottom in sales and spending 11 years working his way up to senior vice president of corporate partnerships before leaving for the 49ers. He was hired as the CEO for the Wolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx in 2016 and worked closely with Taylor at the front of the franchise’s business operations.
Casson has often told the story of how he and close friend Ryan Tanke, who rose to become COO of the Timberwolves and Lynx, were low-level sales associates in 2004 when they paid their own way out to Los Angeles to watch the Timberwolves take on the Lakers in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. The late Wolves coach Flip Saunders was impressed by their initiative and paid for them to stay in Los Angeles for Game 4 as well.
Casson figured prominently in the Wolves’ leadership structure as a trusted advisor for Taylor in good times and bad. He led the franchise through the COVID-19 shutdown, was a key part of the decision-making process for all major hirings and firings, spearheaded the franchise’s work in the community and worked closely with the leaders on the basketball side to try to turn the Wolves from a consistent loser into a contender.
When Lore and Rodriguez prevailed over Taylor in a long and bitter arbitration battle for control of the Wolves and Lynx, Casson announced his decision to step down.
Lore and Rodriguez have named Kelly Laferriere, the chief business officer at A-Rod Corp., to oversee the business operations on an interim basis while they look for a permanent CEO.
So far, all of the significant changes occurring under the new ownership group have been on the business side. Tanke departed and joined the Houston Rockets earlier this month, and several other longtime business-side executives have left their roles.
Lore and Rodriguez have said they do not plan any changes in basketball leadership for the Wolves, led by President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly and head coach Chris Finch, or the Lynx, who have Cheryl Reeve as head coach and president. — Jon Krawczynski, Timberwolves senior writer
(Top photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
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