The NBA returns to action on Wednesday night with just one game on the slate.

But it’s a big one, because it means the Los Angeles Lakers will be taking the court for the first time in a week and all eyes will be on their prize acquisition Luka Dončić and his tender left calf muscle.

The Lakers sent veteran big man Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Dončić back on February 1, but the 25-year-old five-time All-Star missed his first three games for his new team with the calf injury that has limited him to just 24 games all season.  Dončić was also limited to just 23 minutes in the two games he played before the All-Star break.

There was some doubt as to the status of Dončić after the break. The team announced earlier this week that the 2023-2024 scoring leader (with 33.9 points per game) would sit out one of the back-to-back games on the Lakers’ schedule after the break. But as of 24 hours before Wednesday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena, Dončić was reported to be on a minutes restriction but otherwise available to play in the game.

Mavericks’ CEO Issues Head-Scratching Confession

Whether he will sit out Thursday when the Lakers travel to Portland to face the Trail Blazers had not yet been announced as of Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, reverberations from the stunning trade continue to be felt across the league — and a statement from Mavericks CEO Rick Welts published by the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday did not make the situation any easier to understand, especially for the hundreds of Mavericks fans who gathered outside of the American Airlines Center in Dallas to protest the loss of the superstar who had been the face of the franchise since winning Rookie of the Year in 2019 and leading Dallas to the NBA Finals in 2024.

Welts, a former president of the Golden State Warriors, confessed that he “underestimated” how much fans would be upset by the trade of the team’s superstar.

“I thought I’d seen everything in my 47 years in the NBA, but clearly this was different. I probably underestimated the reaction,” Welts said, according to the Morning News. “It’s incredibly emotional, an incredibly difficult time for so many people. But I still believe we’re going to come out on the other side, with a future that’s incredibly bright. That’s kind of my glass-half-full approach there.”

His confession left fans dumbfounded, a reaction seemingly summed up by Dan Greenberg of Barstool Sports.

Fans React to CEO’s Surprise at Their Reaction

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh what? You underestimated the reaction? How on earth is that even remotely possible?” wrote Greenberg on Wednesday. “Did everyone in the Mavs front office from their ownership group to Nico Harrison to the CEO seriously think that an entire fanbase wouldn’t immediately revolt once this trade was announced? How is there nobody in that room that says, ‘Hey, maybe this is a terrible idea that will kill our brand equity with the people who’s money we need?’”

On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) fan response was equally incredulous.

“Traded away a 25 year old franchise player coming off a finals run and thought reactions would be light,” wrote one fan.

“Dude wow, traded a generational talent and he thought it was gonna be all good lmao,” wrote another, while a third fan called Welts’ remark the “understatement of the century.”