Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez won their arbitration case against Glen Taylor to assume ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the sale still needs to be ratified by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
“My expectation is that will move forward, but first, Glen Taylor does have a decision to make as to whether to appeal that arbitration decision,” said Silver. “I mean, that’s Glen’s decision to make. I haven’t talked to him directly about that.
“I think, though, that A-Rod, certainly Marc Lore, are well known to the league at this point. They’ve already been vetted and approved as minority owners. I think they understood that the league had no role in this arbitration. That was something they had agreed to as part of their purchase agreement. I think now that the arbitration has been resolved, they will – as I said, Glen Taylor has a decision to make. If he chooses to appeal it, obviously we will wait until there’s finality as to that process, and if he doesn’t, we will move forward right away and continue the remaining part of our vetting process and then it will go to the governors for a vote.”
Silver was then asked again if he expects the transfer to be ratified.
“The only reason I’m not going to answer that is that I don’t want to turn the Board of Governors role into a rubber stamp,” said Silver. “That is a decision they need to make. We should conclude the vetting process. I know Marc and Alex understand that. That’s a process that every governor in this league has gone through. I will say standing here today, I don’t see any reason why it won’t be approved, but again, we need to follow the process.”