The report seemingly came out of nowhere. Alex Rodriguez owned the Minnesota Twins during his playing days. Suddenly, he and his business partner Marc Lore had an agreement with Glen Taylor to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In 45 days, Rodriguez and Lore had built a rapport with Taylor and earned his trust. They agreed to purchase the Timberwolves after eating homemade burgers in Taylor’s Naples, Fla., home.
Taylor handed Rodriguez and Lore a piece of paper with his asking price, $1.5 billion, written across the top.
“Marc, if I’m you, the first thing I’m wondering is, ‘How did Glen come up with $1.5 billion?” Taylor reportedly told Lore that day. “The honest answer, Marc, is I just want it.”
There was a long pause, and then … “OK.”
“I think anyone else in that position would say, ‘OK, that’s your starting offer. Now, I’m going to go into deal mode and negotiate it. I’m going to take a slice out of it,’” Lore said. “He meant what he said. He said I’m just being honest. I’m not trying to get the most I can for the team. This is a fair price, and this is what I’m looking for.”
Rodriguez and Lore didn’t take ownership of the Wolves that day. Instead, they agreed to a stepped transaction, working with Taylor and progressively owning more of the team. Rodriguez and Lore bought an initial 20% ownership stake from Taylor in May 2021, then executed the purchase of a second 20% tranche in December 2022.
The call option on the third tranche, which would have given Rodriguez and Lore an additional 40% of Taylor’s ownership stake and majority stakes in the Wolves and Lynx, was exercised on Dec. 31, 2023. The contract gave Rodriguez and Lore 90 days from that date to complete the purchase. Taylor released a statement stating that he had canceled the sale 90 days after the call option.
“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,” Taylor stated.
“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. The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”
Taylor, 83, had sought a successor to own the Timberwolves. However, most potential buyers wanted to own the team immediately. Taylor wanted to show the next owners the inside workings of NBA team ownership and ensure the Wolves would stay in Minnesota.
After multiple meetings with Rodriguez and Lore, Taylor believed he had found his successor.
“They’ve asked that I would be there for any decisions that would need to be made. I would enjoy that. I love teaching people,” Taylor said in 2021. “These are a couple of very bright guys, and I think it could be helpful to the club and I think I could be helpful to them so that they feel confident once they take over 100%.”
Rodriguez, Lore, and Taylor acted as allies in the first few years. They celebrated Minnesota’s return to the playoffs in 2021-22. Rodriguez and Lore lured Tim Connelly from the rival Denver Nuggets and extended Chris Finch and Anthony Edwards.
Connelly pulled off a blockbuster trade for Rudy Gobert, and the Timberwolves went 42-40 and lost in the first round in Gobert’s first season. However, last season, the Wolves reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years. Everyone should have been able to celebrate it as a culmination of Rodriguez, Lore, and Taylor’s efforts.
Instead, Taylor’s canceled sale in March hung over the team as they defeated Denver in seven games and entered the offseason with the league’s highest payroll. The Dallas Mavericks had beaten the Wolves in five games, and the new second apron rules meant they had to move on from Karl-Anthony Towns.
Minnesota’s playoff run last year renewed interest in the team. The Wolves sold more than 11,000 season tickets for the first time since the first season in Target Center (1990-91). There was a mural on the Gluek’s building and a “Bring Ya Ass” to Minnesota campaign.
However, the Wolves faced a $100 million luxury tax bill and reportedly lost $150 million last year. Who would foot the bill for Minnesota’s rejuvenating season? NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league would not intervene. Instead, it would allow the arbitration process to decide who owned the Timberwolves.
“It’s certainly not ideal to have a stepped transaction like this,” Silver said in April 2022. “I mean, it met our rules from that standpoint. And it’s what Glen Taylor wanted, and it’s what they were willing to agree to at the time. But I think once the dust clears on this deal, it may cause us to reassess what sort of transactions we should allow.”
Days before the March 2023 call option closed, Rodriguez and Lore lost the Carlyle Group’s financial backing, which Taylor said would have invested $300 million in the deal. It’s unclear whether the investment firm withdrew its funding or the NBA denied its participation.
Despite that last-minute financial setback, Rodriguez and Lore maintained they had another funding source ready when Taylor canceled the sale. A subsection of the purchase agreement labeled “Call Option Closing” noted that Lore and Rodriguez would be given an automatic 90-day extension on their call option if “all NBA approvals or other required approvals of any Governmental Entity have not yet been obtained.”
On Monday, an arbitration panel determined that an extension should have been granted and Taylor’s cancellation was a breach of contract.
“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,” a spokesperson for Rodriguez and Lore said when Taylor announced he had canceled the sale in March 2024. “Glen Taylor’s statement is an unfortunate case of seller’s remorse that is short-sighted and disruptive to the team and the fans during a historic winning season.”
In December 2024, Sportico reported that the Timberwolves were worth $3.29 billion. Perhaps Taylor got buyer’s remorse, knowing the Wolves are worth more than double what he agreed to sell them for in 2021. Maybe Taylor is concerned that Rodriguez and Lore don’t have the funding, or they’ll move the team he saved from relocating in 1994.
Ultimately, the arbitration panel ruled in favor of Rodriguez and Lore, and they should eventually take ownership of the Wolves. Michael Bloomberg, America’s 10th-richest man, joined Rodriguez and Lore’s group in June 2024.
Assuming the NBA Board of Governors approves the sale, the new ownership group should have enough financial backing to cover any loss the Timberwolves accrue this season. Whatever happens after that is as mysterious as everything that’s happened since we learned that Rodriguez and Lore would own the Wolves in 2021.
