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Northwest Notes: Murray, SGA, Sharpe, Wolves, Jazz

March 30th, 2024 at 4:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Jamal Murray continues to deal with a sprained left ankle and swollen right knee, having missed a fourth consecutive game on Friday vs. Minnesota. According to a report from ESPN, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters before Friday’s game that Murray is improving, but said he’s “not ready to go out there and compete at the level that we need him to” and hinted that the star guard may remain out for Sunday’s game vs. Cleveland.

Still, Malone isn’t worried at this point that Murray’s health issues will extend into the postseason, adding, “I do think he will be back on the court before the playoffs start.”

It should be an eventful spring and summer for Murray, assuming he gets – and stays – healthy. After seeking a second straight NBA championship with the Nuggets, the 27-year-old hopes to suit up for the Canadian national team at the Olympics in Paris, he confirmed to Eurohoops.

“I’m excited to be there,” he said. “We have a great squad, (it) was great to see them win a medal (at the 2023 World Cup). Hopefully, we can go our way and win gold this summer.”

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a second consecutive game on Friday vs. Phoenix due to his right quad contusion. Head coach Mark Daigneault said that Gilgeous-Alexander will continue to be considered day-to-day, so there’s no indication at this point that the injury will result in an extended absence (Twitter link via Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman).
Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, who is recovering from core muscle surgery, is with the team on its current seven-game road trip and will continue to be evaluated after participating in non-contact and conditioning drills in the G League earlier this week, per the club (Twitter link). Sharpe hasn’t played since January 11, but there’s still hope that he’ll return in the season’s final two weeks.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said on Friday that he has great relationships with Glen Taylor, Marc Lore, and Alex Rodriguez, so he won’t be taking sides in the franchise’s ownership struggle and doesn’t expect the situation to affect his team at “troop level,” tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “If there was ever a definition of ‘above your pay grade,’ this is it,” Finch added.
After expressing some concern in mid-February about the frustration level in the Jazz‘s locker room, Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune says the locker room vibes in Utah are “way better” now. However, that comes with an important caveat — according to Larsen, since the Jazz have fallen out of the postseason race, they’re no longer as stressed about winning games, as “the sting of losing is absolutely gone.”

Lore, A-Rod Confident They’ll Become Wolves’ Majority Owners

March 29th, 2024 at 8:15pm CST by Rory Maher

In an interview with Eben Novy-Williams and Eric Jackson of Sportico, Timberwolves minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez expressed confidence that they’ll eventually become the team’s majority owners.

“We’re going to be the owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Lore said. “It’s just a matter of time, and how much pain Glen (Taylor) wants to put the fans, the players, the town and community through. It’s his choice. It didn’t have to be this way.”

On Thursday, current majority stakeholder Taylor said Lore and Rodriguez broke the terms of the purchase agreement by not completing the final payment option by March 27. He acknowledged “under certain circumstances, the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension. However, those circumstances did not occur.”

Lore and Rodriguez told Sportico they fulfilled their end of the bargain, claiming that Taylor is trying to back out of a deal that he no longer views as “financially advantageous.” The duo call it a “complete and utter disregard for the contract.”

Specifically, Lore and Rodriguez pointed to a clause in the purchase agreement that states the buyers are entitled to an automatic 90-day extension “if they’ve submitted the signed financial subscriptions but are still awaiting NBA approvals.” They say the commitments were submitted on March 21 — six days prior to the March 27 deadline — and league approval is still pending.

While they didn’t commit to a lawsuit, Lore and Rodriguez said their lawyers are currently talking to the NBA, and they’re going to fight to uphold their interpretation of the contract.

“I’ve never sued anyone; I’ve never been sued,” Lore said, per Sportico, “but we’re dealing with someone that is very comfortable operating that way, and we have to take whatever actions are necessary to protect our childhood dream here.”

There are more interesting tidbits from the interview with Novy-Williams and Jackson, which is worth reading in full. However, Lore, Rodriguez and Taylor also spoke to several other outlets on Thursday and Friday.

Here’s a round-up of the other interviews, which feature more details on the history and recent events from both sides of the ownership dispute:

Taylor was turned off by an “opulent private owners’ suite” that Lore and Rodriguez had built — and Taylor approved — near the team’s locker room, per Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic. “They wanted that private room for themselves down there,” Taylor told The Athletic. “I didn’t think that was a very good idea. But I OK’d it and paid for it and stuff like this. So I bent the corners a little bit and stuff like this here. But, I mean, that was more of their priority that they had that room than, ‘Who are we trading for?’” Former baseball star Rodriguez pushed back on that notion. “I would expect to hear that from like, a teenager, not from someone who’s so mature and so astute and who has been so successful,” Rodriguez said in a video call Friday. “Not only is that a cheap shot, but it is disingenuous and disappointing.”
Lore and Rodriguez say they were stunned by Taylor’s announcement that he would remain the majority owner and the sale was off, according to The Athletic’s report. “We thought we were on good terms and we had a good relationship, and they were happy with all the time that we’ve put into the team to help get the team to where it is today,” Lore said. “They seemed appreciative of that and then boom. It’s really like a nuclear bomb went off, completely unexpected and very, very disappointing.” Taylor, meanwhile says it was simply a business deal that didn’t materialize: “If they would have had the money on the 27th, the deal would have been all done and they would have had control .But they didn’t.”
In every interview they’ve given today, Lore and Rodriguez said when Taylor released his announcement, he also sent a message through his lawyer barring the pair from entering the private suite, entering certain parts of the arena, speaking to team executives, and even the players. Lore and Rodriguez view that as personal; Taylor told The Athletic it was standard procedure for minority owners. “It is now personal,” Rodriguez said. “We can be in this (fight) for five years, 10 years, whatever. We’re not going to let go.”
Chris Hine of The Star Tribune — a paper owned by Taylor — has more quotes from both sides of the ownership disagreement. “It’s just bad faith that you have a deal and a contract, and then because you’re able to get more money, you just decide I don’t want the contract anymore,” Lore said. “That’s just bad faith. It’s not being a good person, a good partner, a good human. You just don’t do that. It’s sort of like honor. It’s honor a little bit. You made a deal and then you honor it because you have integrity.”
Rodriguez confirmed that he was the one raising money for the last payment option, and said he and Lore would have owned “close to 50%” of the franchise had the sale been completed, with other investors holding a significant stake — roughly 30%, per Hine (Taylor would have held the final 20%). Rodriguez and Lore currently control 36% of the Wolves and WNBA’s Lynx. There have been rumors throughout the past few years that the duo didn’t have the capital necessary to complete the sale, but they said that wasn’t the case. “I’ve never been in better financial position,” Lore said. “Way better now than I was two and a half years ago when we did this deal. … I’m flush with cash. I’ve got literally hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, ready to invest in the Wolves and bring home a championship. We’re never in a better spot.“
Lore and Rodriguez also spoke to Dane Moore on his podcast and Darren Wolfson of KSTP Sports about their side of the disagreement. Among other things, Lore said he’d just seen Taylor and his wife at a game a few days ago and there was no indication that anything was amiss with the sale.

Latest On Timberwolves’ Ownership Situation

March 29th, 2024 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Current Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor and the Marc Lore/Alex Rodriguez-led group that expected to take over control of the team have a difference of opinion over whether the prospective owners should have been granted an extension on Wednesday’s deadline to finalize the sale, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.

As Hine explains, language in the sale agreement indicated that the March 27 deadline could have been extended by 90 days if the two sides were awaiting NBA approval to complete the deal. A source tells The Star Tribune that Lore and Rodriguez submitted paperwork to the league last week to complete the agreement and believed a 90-day extension should have been granted in order to give the NBA time to make its decision.

However, Taylor stated that an agreement between him and the Lore/Rodriguez group needed to be completed before the league could approve it, and he believes no such deal was in place.

“They didn’t meet our obligations, so we’re just saying the deal is off,” Taylor said. “But even if we said, ‘OK, we think we have a deal with you,’ they have to start all over and go to the league and the league has to approve of them. … That’s no guarantee.”

According to Patrick Reusse of The Star Tribune, Taylor also pushed back on reports claiming that his relationship with Lore and Rodriguez has “deteriorated” over the past couple years.

“I don’t know if that’s accurate,” he told Reusse. “Lore told me he has been busy 24/7 with other projects. And A-Rod — he has a lot of people to meet when he’s at a game. The deadline had been pushed back, and they missed it. That’s what led to this.”

Taylor also acknowledged that litigation is a possibility if Lore and Rodriguez want to pursue their claim to ownership: “Everyone has the right to bring in the lawyers.”

Here’s more on the Timberwolves’ ownership drama:

According to Reusse, Taylor dismissed the idea that an increase in NBA franchise valuations over the past two to three years led to his decision to strictly enforce Wednesday’s deadline and nix the sale. “Not for me,” said Taylor, who initially agreed to sell the Wolves for a $1.5 billion valuation. “My money’s going to the Taylor Foundation, not in my pocket. But my limited (partners), they might be happy if the Timberwolves are sold later for a higher price.”
On the other hand, a statement Taylor gave to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link) didn’t exactly put to bed the idea that the longtime Wolves owner is experiencing seller’s remorse. “I just think (we) built this team,” Taylor said in explaining why he’s not putting the team back on the market. “We’ve got the players now. And it appears to me that we should have a very positive run for a number of years, and I want to be a part of that.”
Reusse’s Star Tribune column on the situation includes several more tidbits of note, including Taylor specifying that the Lore/Rodriguez group currently owns 36% of the team. “I will work with them, as I do with my other limited (partners),” Taylor said. The 82-year-old also repeated a point he’s made before, telling Reusse that if he was concerned about maximizing his payout, he could’ve agreed to sell the Wolves to an owner that wasn’t committed to keeping the franchise in Minnesota. “We could’ve gotten $2.5 billion paid upfront, but that person was going to try to move the team to Las Vegas,” Taylor said.
Josh Kosman and Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post take an in-depth look at why the deal didn’t go through, suggesting that Lore was “laser-focused” in recent months on his gourmet food delivery-company Wonder and left the final stage of the process largely to Rodriguez. According to The Post’s sources, Lore put more money in during the group’s first two rounds of payments and wanted Rodriguez to invest more this time around to “catch up,” so it was left to A-Rod to raise capital.
Sources tell Kosman and Glasspiegel that Rodriguez was trying to sell interests at a valuation of over $2 billion, rather than his $1.5 billion valuation, which diminished enthusiasm among potential investors to some extent, especially since those investors would be playing “second fiddle” within the ownership hierarchy. While A-Rod eventually raised the money necessary – the equity fund Blue Owl HomeCourt made an investment, per Hine, after the NBA rejected The Carlyle Group, per The Post – “the whole process was delayed” and went down to the wire, according to Kosman and Glasspiegel.
Mike Conley said today that the ownership situation doesn’t have much of an impact at this time on the Timberwolves’ players, who are focused on their Friday matchup with the rival Nuggets, tweets Hine. “Maybe it affects the image of the team, the aura of the team around a little bit,” Conley said. “But as far as the players are concerned, I think we just are like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy.’ Then we got back to watching film and worrying about (Nikola) Jokic, Jamal Murray, and (Michael) Porter and those guys.”

Lore, A-Rod Dispute Taylor’s Claim To Wolves Ownership

March 28th, 2024 at 1:02pm CST by Rory Maher

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.

Glen Taylor Announces He’ll Retain Majority Stake In Timberwolves

March 28th, 2024 at 10:10am CST by Dana Gauruder

Glen Taylor says he will remain the majority owner of the Timberwolves as well as the WNBA’s Lynx, the team announced in a press release.

Taylor confirmed the expiration of the option of Marc Lore and former baseball star Alex Rodriguez to purchase controlling interest in the team. 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 Wednesday, according to the statement.

Under certain circumstances, the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension. However, those circumstances did not occur, the statement adds.

Taylor will retain approximately 60% of the franchises, while Lore and Rodriguez will hold an approximate 40% stake.

“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,” Taylor said in the statement. “The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”

Last week, Lore and Rodriguez reportedly had found new financial backing to complete the purchase. A previous report indicated that the sale proceedings were disrupted when the Carlyle Group chose to withdraw. Lore and Rodriguez were supposedly able to replace the firm with Dyal Capital Partners but apparently that was not enough to close the sale by the March 27 deadline.

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 have made two payments so far — giving them a 20% stake each time, for a total of 40%.

They exercised their option in December for the final 40% of the purchase. That began a 90-day window to submit the required documents and commitment letters to finalize the deal.

Wolves Sign T.J. Warren For Rest Of Season

March 27th, 2024 at 3:38pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 27: The Timberwolves have officially signed Warren for the rest of the season, the team announced today in a press release.

MARCH 26: The Timberwolves have agreed to sign forward T.J. Warren to a contract for the rest of the 2023/24 season, according to a report from Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Warren’s second 10-day deal with Minnesota expired on Monday night, so he can be re-signed at any time. The new agreement will presumably be formally finalized at some point before the Wolves face Detroit on Wednesday.

A free agent for most of the 2023/24 season, Warren initially signed with the Timberwolves on March 6. During his first 20 days with the club, he appeared in seven of nine possible games, averaging 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .382/.182/.500.

Those numbers obviously don’t jump off the page, especially for an accomplished player who had a career scoring average of 14.6 PPG on .506/.354/.780 shooting entering this year. However, the Wolves trusted Warren enough to thrust him immediately into a rotation role, and the club had a pair of open spots on its 15-man roster, so it makes sense to fill one of them with a veteran who has postseason experience.

Assuming Warren officially signs his new contract on Tuesday, it will cover the final 20 days of the season, meaning it will likely be worth $334,007, the same prorated minimum salary that he earned during his first 20 days with the Wolves. Signing on Wednesday would result in a rest-of-season salary worth $317,307.

Warren will be eligible to participate in the playoffs, since he hasn’t been waived since March 1.

After re-adding Warren, Minnesota will have one open spot remaining on its roster. The club must fill that opening by the final day of the regular season in order to carry a 15th man on its playoff roster.

Rudy Gobert Reaches 65-Game Threshold

March 26th, 2024 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert played in his 65th game of the season on Sunday and is now eligible for end-of-season awards, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). That benchmark is significant for Gobert, who is the current frontrunner to earn the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year honor this season.

Wolves Notes: Point Guards, McLaughlin, Offense, Edwards

March 25th, 2024 at 2:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Point guard has become a position of strength for the Timberwolves, according to Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune, who points out that Mike Conley, Monte Morris, and Jordan McLaughlin shared the court together during Friday’s victory over Cleveland.

Known more for their star frontcourt duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, the Wolves have been forced to play smaller lately due to injuries to those big men and it has been working for the club, which also occasionally uses Nickeil Alexander-Walker in a ball-handling role.

“We’re spoiled for choice right there,” head coach Chris Finch said of his point guards. “And I love the fact they all like to play together and they can play together.”

Minnesota acquired Morris at the trade deadline in order to fortify its depth behind Conley at the point, but McLaughlin – who had shared backup duties with Alexander-Walker until that point – has made the case with his recent play that the addition of Morris was more of a luxury than a necessity.

“J-Mac is just playing otherworldly right now,” Finch said. “He has come in and changed the game for us. He’s shooting with so much confidence, making all the normal J-Mac plays, getting all the 50-50 balls, competing for the ball in the air, flying around, getting his hands on stuff.”

Here’s more out of Minnesota:

Chris Hine of The Star Tribune takes a look at how the Timberwolves’ offense has changed since Towns went down with his knee injury earlier this month, observing that the team has been launching more shots from beyond the arc. Minnesota ranked 25th in the NBA in three-pointers per game up until Towns’ last appearance on March 4, but has jumped to No. 12 in the games since then. “We haven’t made a conscious decision to say, ‘Hey we need to shoot more threes because KAT’s not here.’ It’s a by-product of our spacing,” Finch explained.
It has been a tumultuous month for the Timberwolves on the whole — Towns’ injury occurred during the first week of March and was followed by the incoming ownership group’s push to secure the necessary financing in time for its payment deadline. The organization also reportedly fired an employee for stealing thousands of confidential files. However, as Michael Rand of The Star Tribune writes, Minnesota’s players have done a good job blocking the outside noise and focusing on its performance on the court, having gone 6-3 with Towns unavailable.
Howard Beck of The Ringer hopes NBA pundits don’t make a habit out of comparing rising Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan – as some have recently – arguing that such comparisons have backfired repeatedly over the years and that “we should just enjoy the Ant.”

Rudy Gobert Playing Through The Pain Of A Rib Injury

March 23rd, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is determined to not let the pain from a sprained rib keep him out of the lineup, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “You got to embrace the pain sometimes. Sometimes the pain of watching hurts more than the pain of the injury itself,” Gobert said. “It is all about playing through that. As long as I can move, able to impact the game, I am going to be out there.”
The Timberwolves fired a team employee this week for stealing thousands of files, some of which contained “strategic NBA information,” according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Somak Sarkar was charged with felony third-degree burglary.

Lore, Rodriguez Move Closer To Finalizing Purchase Of Wolves

March 20th, 2024 at 5:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have submitted the financial documentation necessary to complete the purchase of a majority stake in the Timberwolves, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The move comes after a report this morning that sale proceedings were disrupted when the Carlyle Group chose to withdraw. Lore and Rodriguez were able to replace the firm with Dyal Capital Partners, according to Charania’s sources.

Lore and Rodriguez have a March 27 deadline to make the final payment for a 40% share of equity that will enable them to replace Glen Taylor as lead owners of the franchise as well as the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. Taylor will retain a minority share in both teams, while the group led by Lore and Rodriguez controls 80% of the franchises.

The NBA still must give its approval to the new ownership structure, and Charania says it’s uncertain how long that might take.

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 have made two payments so far — giving them a 20% stake each time, for a total of 40%.

They exercised their option in December for the final 40% of the purchase, Charania adds. That began a 90-day window to submit the required documents and commitment letters to finalize the deal.

The Carlyle Group had planned to commit $300MM before pulling out of the sale, per Charania’s sources. The private equity firm couldn’t adhere to some NBA requirements for investors, so there was a mutual agreement for Carlyle to withdraw.

Lore and Rodriguez were quickly able to reach out to Dyal to take the firm’s place, notes Charania, who adds that the company’s ownership group includes Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Charania points out that Lore and Rodriguez have already made an impact on the Wolves during their time as minority owners and played a significant role in recruiting Tim Connelly away from Denver to serve as Minnesota’s president of basketball operations.