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After a dispute that lasted more than a year, ownership of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA's Lynx has now been settled. Glen Taylor has agreed to transfer complete ownership of the teams to the group led by Marc Lore and former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, according to ESPN, ending a saga that began all the way back in 2021, when Lore and Rodriguez agreed to purchase the team for $1.5 billion.
The structure of the deal was somewhat unusual. Rather than paying for the team all at once, Lore and Rodriguez were allowed to buy chunks of the team in installments, which would have eventually concluded with them gaining control over the teams. Last March, however, Taylor said Lore and Rodriguez missed a critical payment. Taylor, who had agreed to sell the teams at a price that would later be revealed to be far below market value, attempted to nix the sale as a result. The Phoenix Suns/Mercury sold for $4 billion in 2023, and the Celtics recently were sold for more than $6 billion in examples of the higher going rates for NBA franchises.
Lore and Rodriguez disputed Taylor's decision, and the two sides went to arbitration in February. The three-person panel ultimately ruled in favor of Lore and Rodriguez, saying that Taylor had violated the terms of sale. Taylor still had the ability to appeal the decision, however, and Lore and Rodriguez still needed to be approved by the NBA's board of governors. While that is typically a formality in team sales, Taylor's decades as an owner and former position as chairman of the board of governors made that less of a certainty.
In the end, though, Taylor agreed to walk away, and the transfer process has officially begun, placing Lore and Rodriguez in control of the Timberwolves ahead of an absolutely critical offseason. Last October, the Wolves traded star big man Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks and have been unable to recapture last year's magic with Julius Randle in his place. Minnesota is currently the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, and Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are all impending free agents.
Re-signing the trio would almost certainly keep the Timberwolves in the second apron when championship contention is no longer assured. Last season, meanwhile, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Lore and Rodriguez hoped to take the Wolves out of the luxury tax, which would have been nearly impossible without gutting the roster given the roster's makeup at the time.
Now Lore and Rodriguez will have to prove that they are willing to spend what it takes to win, because if they don't, Minnesota could lose quite a bit of talent over the summer.
