For years, Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has been searching for an investor willing to purchase a minority share of the team and eventually take over as the majority stakeholder — one or two or however many years down the road, as Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press reported back in November.
The late Flip Saunders, prior to his untimely and unfortunate death last October, had been assembling an ownership group that would do just that. But after Saunders had passed away, Taylor hit the recent button on his search for other minority ownership candidates.
On Nov. 12, 2015, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Taylor had engaged in serious talks to sell an approximate 20 percent stake in the Timberwolves to a group led by Steve Kaplan. And until recently, though it has been reported and seems entirely likely that Taylor has spoken with others who may have kicked the tires, the Kaplan group has stood firmly at the front of the line. But the NBA will not allow Kaplan, a California venture capitalist, to purchase the Wolves until he sells his stake in the Memphis Grizzlies. And apparently, that process that has taken longer than expected.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe reported earlier this week that turmoil involving Kaplan within the Memphis ownership group has seemingly halted negotations between he and Taylor in regards to the Wolves. This report comes not long after Krawczynski illuminated that talks between the two parties had hit a wall earlier this month.
The uncertainty surrounding the potential acquisition of the Minnesota Timberwolves by a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies has exposed turmoil within the Memphis ownership group, clouding future control of both franchises, sources told ESPN.com.
The resulting delay has put Kaplan’s deal with Wolves owner Glen Taylor in jeopardy. Kaplan and an investor went to Minneapolis earlier this month to meet with Taylor to salvage the process.
The report also states:
Kaplan had been making plans to become involved with the Wolves and consult on front-office, coaching and roster moves, sources said. He was expected to spend time traveling with the team to get to know the players during the season. Those plans have been scrapped, and inside the Wolves there is a growing assumption that Taylor will remain as primary decision-maker for the near term. This has been received as good news by incumbent general manager Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell, sources say.
Taylor has put the Wolves up for sale in the past only to change his mind later. Amid the Grizzlies’ drama and the Wolves’ collection of young talent, Taylor has slowed the sale process and is now reconsidering whether he wants to sell at all, two sources close to the owner say.
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So, as for what all of this means, exactly:
Timberwolves interim coach Sam Mitchell and general manager Milt Newton would benefit if Taylor were to remain in place as what the ESPN report has described as the primary decision-maker for the near term. This is because it seems unlikely that Taylor would let go of Mitchell and Newton after one season, especially in the wake of Saunders rather tragic death. Any new ownership group will likely want to bring in its own people — players, coaches, front-office executives, basketball operations staff, etc.
So, if he believes those left in charge (whether that be Kaplan, or whoever) will ultimately replace Newton and Mitchell, then Taylor would have little in terms of motive to go about terminating them.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves’ value, according to Forbes, is up 45 percent from one year ago — somewhere in the area of $625 million — as NBA teams have surged in value thanks mostly to its $2.7 billion-per-season ($24 billion total) national TV deal with ESPN/ABC and Time Warner (TNT) set to begin in 2016. Last April, I wrote, citing Jacob Rosen, the average organization has an estimated current value of $1.1 billion, which is up 74 percent from last year’s estimates. The jump is the largest year-over-year increase since Forbes began estimating North American franchise values in 1998. There are currently 11 teams thought to be worth over a billion, eight more than last year.
It will be interesting to see if Taylor finds another prospective buyer before the regular season ends, or sometime this summer. If Newton and Mitchell are dealt new contracts perhaps the length of those would serve as an indication as to when Taylor hopes to have the franchise sold, whether that be one or two or three or four (or five or six or seven) years down the road. But as of now, there is no timetable in place for when a change in ownership might occur.
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[ESPN, Associated Press, Yahoo]
