The Minnesota Timberwolves are no longer for sale and that means Alex Rodriguez and partner Marc Lore will no longer be controlling owners.
Current majority owner Glen Taylor confirmed as much in a statement from the team.
Rodriguez and Lore had been planning on becoming controlling owners since 2022. They even made two payments toward the reported $1.5 billion purchase. That gave them 40 percent ownership. But a deadline for another payment came and went, and Taylor will maintain controlling interest in both the Timberwolves and WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.
"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," Taylor said in the release. "The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale."
Now, if this is just a power play or if Taylor truly intends to keep majority interest in the team. Sometimes, negotiations can be revisited. We see it all the time sports and business.
The Timberwolves' statement explained what went wrong this way:
"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.
"Under certain circumstances, the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension. However, those circumstances did not occur."
In other words, for whatever reason, Rodriguez and Lore didn't qualify for some extra time to come up with the needed funds. We're not really sure why.
Either way, the Timberwolves have definitely turned a corner since Taylor added Rodriguez and Lore to his ownership team. They're currently battling for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference standings. Whether A-Rod has anything to do with that ... well, it's not too likely. But hey, at least he can still take 40 percent of the credit.
