On Thursday morning, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor announced that he will retain his majority stake in the franchise after the final purchase option held by minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez expired on Wednesday.
That would leave Taylor with about a 60% stake in the Wolves and WNBA’s Lynx, with Lore and Rodriguez controlling approximately 40%. The final option would have seen Lore and Rodriguez become the majority owners with an 80% stake, while Taylor would have retained 20%.
In Taylor’s press release, he also said the Wolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.
However, in their own statement this afternoon, Lore and Rodriguez disputed Taylor’s claim to ownership, and they believe they should — and will — become majority owners, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).
“We are disappointed with Glen Taylor’s public statement today. 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.
“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.”
Sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the relationship between Taylor and Lore and Rodriguez has “disintegrated over the past two-plus years.” That reporting certainly seems to align with today’s contentious news.
As Krawczynski writes in a full story for The Athletic, the next steps aren’t immediately clear. A week ago, Lore and Rodriguez submitted the financial documentation they believed was necessary to complete the purchase. But Taylor says the duo failed to reach several key benchmarks in the purchase agreement.
According to Krawcyznski, the purchase agreement calls for third-party mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes like the one currently unfolding. Whatever happens next, it doesn’t seem like the situation will be resolved anytime soon.
There’s no indication the dispute has disrupted Minnesota’s play on the court — the Wolves are in the midst of their first 50-win season in two decades. The timing is certainly unfortunate though, with only 10 regular season games remaining before the playoffs get underway next month.
Since 2021, Lore and Rodriguez have been involved in the purchase of the Wolves for $1.5 billion on a multi-phase payment plan. They were reportedly instrumental in recruiting president of basketball operations Tim Connelly away from the Nuggets in 2022.
So you aren’t happy with Taylor and you fire back by claiming sellers remorse and calling the guy short sighted and disruptive.
Whine much?
He backed out of an already agreed upon deal when he had no right to. The purchase agreement allowed for conditions that would result in Taylor retaining control, but those conditions weren’t met. This is absolutely sellers remorse, or it was a premeditated fraud perpetrated on the buyers group.
How could you possibly know that
Obviously he must work for the NBA or Wolves and has all the info that both parties have and is here in his free time
No one can know for sure but it seems like a case of simple economics. Taylor agreed to sell for $1.5B and the team surely has a much higher valuation now. We’ll find out soon enough, though.
It’s in the article, the agreement was phased and if they didn’t meet the dates Taylor would have the option to back out.
Highway….
If there is an agreement and someone backs out, if it’s a true binding agreement then you will surely see a lawsuit
It’s actually quite alarming that AFraud and Lore had a partner back out at the last minute given the stipulations.
I don’t know anything about the specifics in the contract, just what was stated in this article about its phased payment structure. It states that if the payments aren’t made Taylor can back out. Otherwise this was an already agreed to deal. He can’t just decide to back out for no reason. Payments have already been made.
About 3 years ago, I doubted that A-Rod had enough money to buy 50% of Wolves ownership
I posted here 3 years ago
These two are clowns who don’t personally have the money. They have to keep looking to others to come up with money.
It took them a measly couple days to find new financial backing after the previous one dropped out. That $1.5B valuation from 3 years ago is WAY low now considering Suns sale of $4B last year and the team’s current play. Clear BS from Taylor here because he knows that last stake is worth way more than he’s agreed to sell it for so he’s trying to nullify the sale on a technicality.
If the wolves are valued at 4 billion but the remaining portion of the sale was based on a 1.5 billion value why wouldn’t financial backers be lining up for that instant profit?
Why would a backer walk away from a deal like that?
I don’t know of any financial institution that wouldn’t buy something being sold at 1.5 but is currently valued at 4.
This is bizarro world stuff
This is why the Lore/Rodriguez group essentially was able to immediately replace with a different backing when their initial financial backing fell through and seemingly why Taylor is now trying to cancel the remainder of the sale on a technicality. Haven’t heard why the initial money fell through, could’ve been an issue meeting a stipulation of the NBA or that group didn’t have the financial means necessary, not every financial institution/group can come up with 40% of $1.5B at all times.
Perhaps, but it’s also Lore’s and A-Roid’s fault for dragging out this process for so long. If they were so awash in cash, this sale would’ve be completed ages ago. Why give Taylor a possible cop out on a technicality?
Frankly, I’m not sure why anyone would trust either party at this point. Both have a history of lying, and both have ample reason to lie right now.
Hate to break it to you, but even billionaires don’t have billions of dollars to spend. The only people with that kind of cash are the heads of drug cartels. Billionaires are paper billionaires, where they have assets projected to be worth X amount of dollars, and if they cash out those assets they will never realize the full amount, as they have to pay taxes. Everything is funded by banks.
Aww the wittle billionaire has to pay tax???!!!
What a weird comment. Sure didn’t seem like Highway Menace implied that he felt bad for billionaire paying taxes, he’s just educating people who clearly have no idea what they’re talking about.
I mean he said billionaires don’t have billions to spend because of taxes, which is clearly false.
No, that’s not what he said and suggesting as much shows that you either don’t understand what he’s saying or don’t understand how the world works.
Rich people problems, who gives a crap.
T-Wolves fans, I don’t know anything about Glen Taylor. What kind of owner is he?
Terrible…
Worst of the worst…
From the whole Kahn debacle to every other poor sporting decision possible…
On top of that he’s also disgusting politically…
His only redeeming quality is he hasn’t moved the team…
Genuinely one of the worst consistently doesn’t care about fans and is one of the main reasons we haven’t been successful in the past. He is a 100% the type of scum that would pull the rug on the deal because the Wolves are doing good now
Also has a habit of blaming his players for everything that goes wrong. Tried to say KG intentionally tanked their season to get traded once, which is clear nonsense. Also blamed Trenton Hassel and Troy Hudson for their cap situation when he’d intentionally given two megabucks contracts to KG that hamstrung them in the first place and driven away all of his co-stars with bad moves and bad-faith negotiation, just to say “see, I spend on the team!”
Taylor is a piece of crapola!
One was the most dysfunctional organizations in the major 4 sports. And it starts at the very top. Every step of the way, he’s failed to make the right decisions. I don’t think he gets enough mention for being one of the worst owners in North American sports.
horrible! I really hope that he’s forced to sell. He needs to go!
POS…mic drop
What a complete clusterf…
Given the history of both sides… It’s not surprising in the least…
Typical Wolves…
Looks to me like Taylor never had any intention of selling the team and was looking for a cash infusion without giving up control. His actions speak volumes. That, or he thinks 1 winning season will somehow increase the value of the team, which is incredibly unlikely.
If someone is being dishonest my money is on it being ARod
You don’t know Glen Taylor then.
Typical spring day on Minnesota sports – TWolves drama, Twins star leaves a game due to injury, while the Wild hover near the cutoff line for the playoffs.
What it comes down to is Taylor seeing other teams going for over a billion more than his agreement. This guy is greedy and has no idea what he’s doing owning a pro franchise. The proof is in the results the team has achieved with him as owner. He’s the perpetual black cloud that lingers. Get out Glen!!! This team will suffer tremendously with you in the mix!!