A lot has gone down in the two-three hours since news originally broke this morning that the deal in place between the Marc Lore + Alex Rodriguez ownership group and Glen Taylor to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves fell through.
Glen Taylor says Minnesota Timberwolves deal is off
So let’s get caught up. According to Glen Taylor (in an interview today with Darren “Doogie” Wolfson for KSTP), the Wolves were supposed to have new owners yesterday, March 27, which was the date that their most recently extended payment of $600 million was due. So, on Thursday, March 28, when Lore and A-Rod “didn’t complete the contract”, Taylor officially voided the deal.
“Well we had an agreement that Alex and Marc proposed to us, that over a 3-4 year period of time, they would buy into the Timberwolves. And they had given us dates that they would pay for each “tranche”. So this was like the third one, which would be March 27. They could have prepaid it but I think they just had difficulty getting it done. The March 27 date past and they didn’t complete the contract so I think at that point we voided the contract.”
Glen Taylor (via KSTP)
In his interview with Wolfson, Taylor says that the roughly 38% that Alex and Marc have already purchased are theirs to keep and that he is not trying to push them out of the organization. That he will continue on as majority owner and business will operate as normal.
The problem with what Taylor told Wolfson is that it directly contradicts reports recently that Lore and A-Rod had gotten the required paperwork into the NBA, Not only that, but the prospective ownership group released a statement that surfaced just prior to Doogie’s interview with Taylor.
A-Rod and Lore not giving up without a fight
Not only do they swat down what Taylor said about not having the money ready, but they contend the deal is still on and moving forward. In other words, this has the smell of what could end up being one hell of a legal battle.
So what happens next? That’s anyone’s best guess. What we do know is that the A-Rod + Lore group has had issues collecting the money needed to pay Glen Taylor for years and that he’s extended the payment dates multiple times, and that he’s happily extended their dates.
Why he decided to end it now is up for debate, though Taylor has admitted today (in a radio interview with Chad Hartman (WCCO Radio) that part of his motivation has to do with the skyrocketing valuation of the Timberwolves, since agreeing to sell it to Marc and Alex, who originally agreed to buy the Timberwolves for $1.5 billion.
But why cut them off now, and not a year or two ago, when other NBA franchises were being purchased for double that price? As mentioned, they’ve been pushing payments back for years. No doubt, Taylor has had opportunities to pull the rug out before today. These are questions we do not yet have the answer to.
Outside of the statement they released today, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have not been granting interviews recently, regarding their purchase of the Timberwolves. Meanwhile, Glen has been ringing the alarm that something is wrong for months, claiming that the new ownership group had mostly stopped communicating with him.
Trust me… there is much more to come on this saga.
More must-reads: