The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped a bomb on Thursday morning.
According to a statement released by the Timberwolves and Lynx ownership group, the franchise is no longer for sale. A transition of power was thought to be in place over the last couple of years. Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez had been working with entrepreneur Marc Lore to buy a majority stake from current governor Glen Taylor. They had already owned 40 percent and were looking to acquire an additional 40 percent.
“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.”
The Timberwolves state that Rodriguez and Lore failed to come up with the final funds needed to pull off the sale. They could have supposedly received an extension on the deadline “under certain circumstances,” but this did not occur.
Again, this is a pretty darn shocking ending to what many assumed was practically a done deal. This is especially true considering The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported an inevitable closing on the deal just last week. As Rodriguez and Lore searched to get over the final financial hurdle, Charnia reported that Dyal Capital Partners joined an investor group to help close the sale.
He also went as far as to say that signed documentation was sent to the NBA to complete the acquisition.
Here is what he shared on X:
So not only is it stunning to see the sale of an NBA team fall through this far into the game, but let’s not forget how the Timberwolves are playing. Rodriguez and Lore jumped into this opportunity well before Minnesota became the team they are today. Thanks largely to emerging superstar Anthony Edwards, the Timberwolves are just a half-game behind the reigning champion Denver Nuggets for the top spot in the West.
With that in mind, it’s hard not to wonder how much more money could be made in an updated sale. As ESPN noted back in December, the original agreement centered around a $1.5 billion valuation in 2021.
UPDATE (10:40)
Shortly after publishing, Adrian Wojnarowski added a new wrinkle to the discussion. He noted that the relationship between Glen Taylor and Rodriguez/Lore “disintegrated” over time. More importantly, the two apparently had the money needed to take over the franchise, but Taylor claims they didn’t meet contractual deadlines.
So … are things about to get real messy? We’ll see!