Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore issue fiery responses to failed Timberwolves majority ownership bid

Recently, the basketball world received a jolt to the senses when it was revealed that Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor would be backing out of his agreement to sell the team to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. The sale process began in 2021 but Taylor alleges that Lore and Rodriguez did not meet certain obligations and deadlines outlined by their contract, resulting in the disintegration of the Timberwolves sale and their relationship as a whole, as reported by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Now, Rodriguez–a former MLB superstar with the New York Yankees, and Lore–an entrepreneur–are firing back.

“We will use every ounce of effort here to enforce the contract that Glen broke,” said Lore, per NBA insider Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez echoed his business partner’s sentiments, stating that the duo are in it for the long haul.

“We can be in this (fight) for five years, 10 years, whatever. We’re not going to let go,” said Rodriguez, per Charania.

In his original statement, Glen Taylor was a bit less fiery despite the core message, stating that he “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,” per ESPN.

A breakout season for the Timberwolves

Meanwhile, on the basketball court, the Timberwolves are enjoying one of their most successful seasons in franchise history, thanks primarily to the emergence of Anthony Edwards as a legitimate star as well as the NBA’s number one defense, orchestrated by head coach Chris Finch and anchored by presumptive Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Rudy Gobert.

The Timberwolves are currently navigating some rough waters as they hope to hold steady near the top of the conference without the services of Karl-Anthony Towns, who was injured toward the beginning of the season but is expected to be back in the lineup around the time the playoffs begin in just over three weeks.

Meanwhile, Edwards has established himself as one of the, if not the best, shooting guard in the NBA, consistently putting up mammoth stat lines on a nightly basis–particularly since Towns went down with the injury–and also playing a major role in what has been an elite defensive unit for the Timberwolves so far this season.

The two main concerns for Minnesota, outside of Towns’ health, will be the team’s relative lack of deep postseason experience, as well as the perceived vacancy of complementary perimeter shot creators to supplement Edwards’ scoring. However, defense travels no matter the city, and that end of the floor has been the Timberwolves’ calling card all year and figures to play to their advantage as the game slows down come postseason time.

With under ten games left, there’s still a very real possibility that Minnesota will be the Western Conference’s number one seed heading into the playoffs.