This is a strange situation. The Minnesota Timberwolves are having one of their best seasons in franchise history, yet all the talk about the team is revolving around their strange ownership situation!
What is going on with the Timberwolves?
Despite the team’s tremendous success on the court, the Minnesota Timberwolves are in the midst of a chaotic ownership change as the front-running bidder group, which is led by MLB legend Alex Rodriguez, are fighting with current Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor over his majority stake in the franchise. And, the only thing I can really say about this news is that it makes little sense.
This has to be a classic example of buyer’s remorse, right?
So, for those who have not seen the news, the Minnesota Timberwolves are currently the #1 seed in the Western Conference after hammering the defending champion Denver Nuggets 111-98 last night to improve to 51-22 with the tiebreaker between these two powerhouses now in the Timberwolves’ favor. Everything must be going pretty well for the Timberwolves then, right?
Well…think again.
It is true that the Timberwolves ARE playing fantastic basketball, yet all the drama and talk around this team has not been because of the play on the court. No, it’s because their current majority owner, Glenn Taylor, has come out and shocked the state of Minnesota by claiming the minority ownership group, which is led by Alex Rodriquez and Marc Lore (former President and CEO of Walmart eCommerce), have not met their majority-stake ownership requirements to buyout Taylor’s position and the team is no longer for sale.
Sounds simple enough, right? Talks to buy the team have fallen through…only that’s not the case at all.
For Alex Rodriquez has come out himself and said the minority stake party not only met the obligations and is just waiting for NBA approval, but the investment talks have soured the relationship between the majority and minority parties to the extent the issue has now become “personal” and the minority party will fight to own the team for decades if that’s what it takes to buy out Taylor’s stake. What a showdown this is becoming!
So, from what I’ve read so far about this issue, it really does seem like a case of “buyer’s remorse” as Rodriguez has claimed. As stipulated when Rodriguez, Lore, and his investment backers purchased a combined 40% stake in the Timberwolves back in 2021, the group had until March 27th, 2024 to raise the funding and capital needed to meet the 80% stake at a $1.5B valuation they placed on the team with their initial purchase.
And, by all accounts, the group did come up with the money and submitted their ownership bid to the NBA for review and approval…but that has taken longer than expected and Taylor claims this delay has caused the initial agreement to be null and void. Now, while that may be true, it’s hard to believe Taylor could not give them an extension or some form of leeway if he REALLY wanted to be bought out of his majority stake as the minority group has all the backing needed to purchase the team.
However as mentioned, whether it be due to the Timberwolves success or their valuation increasing beyond the initial valuation from the minority owners, the Timberwolves are now worth far more to Taylor (either monetarily or sentimentally) than when he agreed to the sale back in 2021.
And that’s why this deal might get held up…but I expect it will not for these issues are bound to hit some form of arbitration/mediation. And I suspect that may not go down to well for Taylor and his majority stake in the team.
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