Three years ago, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez agreed to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx for a reported price tag of $1.5 billion from longtime owner Glen Taylor.
Lore and Rodriguez have been regular features courtside in Minnesota since, but they took on a partial stake in the Wolves immediately. The transition to them being the majority owners was not set to be complete until this week, with the deadline for them to purchase the majority share being on Wednesday. When that deadline came and went, Glen Taylor decided that he didn’t want to sell his stake in the Wolves and Lynx anymore, putting out a stunning statement on Thursday via the team that said the franchises are no longer for sale.
Glen Taylor, Chairman of Taylor Sports Group, Inc., the general partner of Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball Limited Partnership (“Timberwolves and Lynx”), this morning confirmed the expiration of the option of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to acquire controlling interest in the Timberwolves and Lynx.
Under terms of the purchase agreement, the closing was required to occur within 90 days following the exercise notice issued by Lore and Rodriguez. That 90-day period expired on March 27, 2024.
Under certain circumstances, the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension. However, those circumstances did not occur.
“I will continue to work with Marc, Alex and the rest of the ownership group to ensure our teams have the necessary resources to compete at the highest levels on and off the court,” said Taylor. “The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”
This announcement came as a fairly big surprise to those around the NBA and WNBA, and now it’s fair to wonder what kind of tension may exist within the ownership group at the moment. That said, it maybe shouldn’t come as a total shock that Taylor would look at the Timberwolves having their best season in decades and think maybe he should stick around and try to cash in a bit more in the future with the valuation sure to rise (especially with a new TV deal on the horizon). In the meantime, there’s some serious off-court drama for the Wolves to navigate as they try to prove themselves as a legitimate contender in the West.
UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, the Rodriguez and Lore camp is not pleased about this and it certainly sounds like we might be headed towards some litigation, as they released a statement insisting they did everything necessary to complete the sale.
Statement from spokesperson on behalf of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, reading in part: "We have fulfilled our obligations, have all necessary funding and are fully committed to closing our purchase of the team as soon as the NBA completes its approval process." pic.twitter.com/QyotXmkRTP
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 28, 2024
