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Jul 22, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) celebrates with teammates on the bench during the second half against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images \/ Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts played a huge part in the launch of the WNBA, winning Brandweek’s Marketer of the Year in 1998 for it. It makes him proud to see how far the league has come over the last 28 years. <\/p>\n
“I love everything that’s happening right now,” Welts said in a recent interview with Bloomberg<\/a>. “…This isn’t something that just happened. And I’m so happy for the players, the executives, the coaches that over the last 28 years have built a foundation that has allowed a Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers to come in now and ignite the kind of interest and enthusiasm that’s around the WNBA.” <\/p>\n Bueckers is starring for the local Dallas Wings, averaging 18.1 PPG, 5.6 APG, and 3.9 RPG, breaking plenty of records along the way. She’s the heavy favorite to take home Rookie of the Year, giving the city of Dallas a pair of exciting rookies after the Mavericks were able to select Cooper Flagg first overall. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Clark has taken over the WNBA as a member of the Indiana Fever. She’s been dealing with injuries this year, so she hasn’t been able to perform at the level she has wanted, but she was still an All-Star captain. <\/p>\n READ MORE: Mavericks’ X-Factor’s starting five is missing one huge name<\/a><\/p>\n Stick with\u00a0MavericksGameday\u00a0for more\u00a0FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>\u00a0throughout the offseason<\/p>\n Follow MavericksGameday on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and Austin Veazey on\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n