Glen Taylor

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.

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.

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.

Timberwolves Notes: A-Rod, Lore, Garza, Edwards

March 20th, 2024 at 9:07am CST by Dana Gauruder

Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore must find new financial backers to gain majority ownership of the Timberwolves franchise, according to ESPN News Services.

They’ve lost the financial backing of the Carlyle Group with one payment left to claim majority ownership from current owner Glen Taylor. That payment would complete a process that began in April 2021 for Lore and Rodriguez to purchase the Timberwolves in installments. Lore and Rodriguez previously purchased two installments of 20% at a $1.5 billion valuation for the franchise.

They exercised their rights to buy an additional 40% of the franchise earlier this year. The final installment is due on March 27.

We have more on the Timberwolves:

With Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid sidelined on Tuesday, two-way player Luka Garza received extended playing time. He posted 11 points and six rebounds in 22 minutes during the 115-112 loss to Denver. “I’ve just been working this entire year to help this team when I’m out there,” Garza told Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I still feel like there’s another level I can get to. All I know is I did everything I could. I played hard.”
Despite being shorthanded and one the second night of a back-to-back, Minnesota pushed the Nuggets to the limit on Tuesday. Anthony Edwards, who dislocated a finger the previous night, missed a 3-point attempt that could have sent the game to overtime. “They’re really well-coached. They execute really well. They have Ant, who is one of the best players, most talented players, in the NBA right now,” Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. “You have Mike Conley, who’s a really good veteran. They just play really well. They play hard. They run their plays with purpose. That’s why they’re good. Even from the (2023) playoffs — they missed a couple guys in the playoffs, too, but they still had really good fight.”
Having appeared in his 65th game this season, Edwards is now eligible for postseason awards, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. That could lead to a bump in his salary. Edwards signed a five-year maximum-salary rookie extension last summer, which could rise in value from $204MM (25% of next season’s cap) to $245MM (30% of the cap) if he’s named All-NBA this season. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 26.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

Wolves Notes: Sale, Conley, Gobert, Edwards

March 19th, 2024 at 10:55am CST by Arthur Hill

There may be a new snag in the sale of the Timberwolves with the deadline a little more than a week away, according to Minnesota sports reporter David Shama. Appearing Monday on Shama’s Sports Headliners show, current owner Glen Taylor shared news about a financing challenge facing buyers Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

“They had an equity group that was going to come in and put in $300 million, and that equity group has either withdrawn or the NBA has denied them,” Taylor said. “They have to go out and find new revenue. That I do know. I don’t know if they found it or what they’re going to do. We haven’t seen the schedule of ownership yet.”

Since 2021, Lore and Rodriguez have been involved in a multi-phase payment plan to purchase the team for $1.5 billion. Their final payment, which is due March 27, will give them majority control of the team, with Taylor keeping a minority stake. Next Wednesday’s deadline is already an extension of a previous date, and Taylor said about $600MM is due.

The NBA will have the final decision on whether to approve the sale even if Lore and Rodriguez make the payment on time. Shama suggests approval may be in question if league officials are skeptical that the new owners have enough money on hand to meet operating obligations.

There’s more from Minnesota:

Veteran point guard Mike Conley provides a calming effect for the Wolves as they try to establish themselves as one of the NBA’s elite teams, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. With nearly two decades in the NBA, Conley has been through the experience of being part of teams that fell short in the playoffs after a strong regular season. “I’ve been on really good teams that have been close but haven’t gotten quite to where we want to go,” he said. “And it’s been the little things here and there. So, we want to take advantage of our opportunity. We want to strike while it’s hot, but at the same time, we want to be grateful for the position we are in.”
Rudy Gobert sat out again Monday with a sprained rib, but he’s hoping to return soon, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “I just want to be able to make sure I can help the team when I’m back,” Gobert said. “Right now, the level of pain is getting better every day, but still not good enough for me to be able to be myself and help the team, which is never fun. Hopefully it’s just a matter of days.”
Anthony Edwards thrilled his teammates, the Delta Center crowd and social media with one of the best dunks of the season (video link) on Monday at Utah, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Edwards dislocated the middle finger on his left hand on the play, but he was able to shoot a free throw after running to the locker room to get it popped back into place.

Timberwolves Notes: Edwards, Sale Process, Anderson

March 5th, 2024 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves got off to an inauspicious start on Monday night vs. Portland, as star guard Anthony Edwards didn’t report to the court on time for the opening tip. According to reports from Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune and ESPN, Edwards – who does resistance band work outside the team locker room before each game – said he lost track of the time.

The Timberwolves were hit with a delay of game violation as Nickeil Alexander-Walker ended up starting in Edwards’ place and playing the first 35 seconds before the All-Star checked in.

“Sixth Man of the Year,” Edwards joked after the game, per Zgoda.

As Zgoda details, the Wolves weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders for much of the night against a Trail Blazers team missing several key players due to injuries, but they did just enough to come away with a five-point win, avoiding a third consecutive loss. Rudy Gobert led the way with 25 points and 16 rebounds on a near-perfect shooting night. He went 9-of-10 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the foul line.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

Following up on a pair of tweets over the weekend discussing the situation, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic takes a more in-depth look at the Timberwolves’ unconventional sale process, which remains on track to be finalized in the coming weeks. As Krawczynski explains, the incoming group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez already controls 40% of the franchise and exercised its option in late December to purchase another 40%. That option pick-up opened a 90-day window to complete the transaction, so it should be completed by the end of March. Longtime team owner Glen Taylor will retain 20% of the franchise even after Lore and Rodiguez assume majority control.
There have been some questions throughout the process about whether Lore and Rodriguez have the money to complete their purchase of the Wolves, but sources tell Krawczynski that “everything is in order.” The new ownership group, which recruited some minority investors along the way to help with financing, will have to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors as majority stakeholders.
Second play-maker Kyle Anderson got off to a slow start in his second season in Minnesota, but has looked more comfortable as of late, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Anderson has three assists or more in 14 straight games, the longest streak of his career, and has shot 50.0% from the field during that time, bumping his season-long mark to 46.9%. “He understands that he needs to be a play-maker for us at all costs. He’s a guy we can trust with the ball, a guy who makes the right decisions whether it’s scoring the ball, posting up or finding guys in the right spots,” teammate Mike Conley said of Anderson. “Defensively he’s a guy who can switch onto different guys, guard other guys and give Jaden (McDaniels) a break, give Ant a break. He has been those things so far. He’s just confident in that role.”
In a separate story for The Star Tribune, Hine says there’s not a specific playoff matchup that Minnesota fears, since the Wolves believe they’re capable of beating any team in the West if both clubs are playing their best basketball.

Northwest Notes: Knox, J. Williams, Wolves, McDaniels

March 2nd, 2024 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent forward Kevin Knox has returned to the G League, having reported back to the Rip City Remix, according to a tweet from the Trail Blazers‘ G League affiliate.

Knox was with the Remix in the fall, but signed with the Pistons in early November and was in the NBA for three months before being sent to Utah at February’s trade deadline. The Jazz immediately waived him, and with no NBA opportunities immediately presenting themselves, the former No. 9 overall pick eventually decide to head back to the G League.

Knox racked up 26 points and 11 rebounds and was a +23 in a 15-point victory over Iowa in his return to Rip City on Friday. A few more performances like that could help earn him another shot at the NBA level. For what it’s worth, since he was waived before March 1, he’ll be playoff-eligible if he signs a rest-of-season contract with an NBA club.

Here are a few more notes from around the Northwest:

Thunder center Jaylin Williams has been diagnosed with a sprained left knee, head coach Mark Daigneault said on Friday (Twitter link via Rylan Stiles of Locked on Thunder). There’s no word yet on the severity of the sprain, but it’s often a week-to-week injury, so one of the team’s recent frontcourt additions – Bismack Biyombo and Mike Muscala – may get an opportunity to claim a rotation role.
Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter links) clarifies that incoming Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have until the end of March to make their final payment to assume majority control of the franchise. Sources close to the Lore/Rodriguez group say they remain on track to make that payment, per Krawczynski. Current majority owner Glen Taylor said in a recent conversation with Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News that he was told Lore and Rodriguez planned to close the sale at the end of February, which didn’t happen. However, it doesn’t sound like the new ownership group has missed any deadlines.
Chris Hine of The Star Tribune explores Jaden McDaniels‘ importance to the Timberwolves and notes that the club will need an “even-keeled” version of the young forward in order to reach its ceiling. McDaniels memorably broke his hand when he punched a wall on the final day of the 2022/23 regular season and missed Minnesota’s play-in loss.

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