Majority owner Glen Taylor said via release on Thursday morning that the option of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to acquire controlling interest in the Timberwolves and Lynx expired.
Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx majority owner Glen Taylor announced via a statement issued by the organization on Thursday morning that the two teams are no longer for sale.
Taylor “confirmed the expiration of the option of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to acquire controlling interest in the Timberwolves and Lynx,” according to the statement.
“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 March 27, 2024.”
Taylor added that a limited extension could have taken place “under certain circumstances,” but that “those circumstances did not occur.”
The organization closed the statement with a direct quote from Taylor himself:
“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,” said Taylor. “The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”
This news means that Taylor will remain the controlling owner of both franchises, while Lore and Rodriguez will continue on as minority partners.
Lore, Rodriguez Respond with Official Statement
Our friend Chris Hine of the Star Tribune first posted the statement on Twitter:
“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.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported later in the morning on Thursday that “the relationship between Taylor and his successors disintegrated over the past two-plus years.”
The relationship between Taylor and his successors – Lore and Rodriguez – disintegrated over the past two-plus years, sources tell ESPN. Lore/Rodriguez did raise money necessary to purchase controlling interest, but Taylor contends that they didn’t meet contractual deadlines…
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 28, 2024
Our friend Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic is reporting that there seems to be a clear disconnect between the two sides, and that “this feels like just the beginning of a long process.”
Here’s what I can gather right now: What this will come down to is an interpretation of the agreement. Lore/Rodriguez believe they have fulfilled all their obligations. Glen Taylor believes they have missed on a series of benchmarks that they were supposed to hit.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 28, 2024
The agreement calls for disputes like this to go to mediation/arbitration, where a neutral party would review the arguments from both sides and make a ruling. What happens next is not immediately clear. But this feels like just the beginning of a long process.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 28, 2024
Glen Taylor to @TheAthletic: “We’re just saying we had a contract with you guys, you’ve had your time and this is the end of the contract and we’re just kind of go on running the way we’ve been run.”
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 28, 2024
Glen Taylor tells @TheAthletic that he does not plan on putting it back on the market: “I just think built this team. 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.”
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 28, 2024
Taylor spoke via phone with our friend Darren Wolfson of KSTP on Thursday morning. In the conversation, Taylor said that the Lore and Rodriguez own 36% of the team.
Our @DWolfsonKSTP spoke with Glen Taylor earlier this morning. Here’s a snippet on the news that the #Timberwolves and #Lynx are no longer for sale: pic.twitter.com/9swCnIxZ4N
— KSTPSports (@KSTPSports) March 28, 2024
This news comes less than 24 hours removed from the Wolves winning their 50th game of the 2023-24 season — just the fifth time in franchise history a team has accomplished that feat, and the first since the 2003-04 season — and one day before the the team’s biggest game of the season, in which the Timberwolves will battle the Denver Nuggets for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. It surely is an unfortunate development that will only take away from what an incredibly fun team is doing in the midst of a potentially historic run in a wide open Western Conference.
Not only that, but we’re just over one month away from the Minnesota Lynx opening their 2024 WNBA Training Camp after making three big moves to upgrade the team this offseason in signing Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith, and acquiring point guard Natisha Hiedeman via a trade with the Connecticut Sun, while also bringing back wing Bridget Carleton. The WNBA Draft, which takes place on April 15, is two weeks from Monday. The Lynx hold the No. 7 overall selection, as well as the No. 7 pick in the third round.
Where the ownership saga goes from here remains to be seen, but we’ll continue to update you as it unfolds.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.