The Minnesota Timberwolves ownership dispute between majority owner Glen Taylor and the Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez group will move to a mediation session on May 1 in Minneapolis, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Taylor ended what was a three-year succession plan in late March when he announced that Lore and Rodriguez had missed deadlines on terms of sale to become majority owners this spring.
Lore and Rodriguez are aggressively disputing Taylor’s claims and pushing to reinstate the original deal, which included an automatic 90-day extension to gain NBA approval and majority ownership.
As part of the initial contract, mediation is the first step in the process of finding a resolution to the ongoing conflict. Despite the ownership troubles, the Timberwolves were the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference for the first time and held a 1-0 lead over Phoenix in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Rodriguez and Lore Group made two initial payments to buy 36% of the Timberwolves and Lynx in 2022 and 2023, and said they filed paperwork to buy another 40% for about $600 million, which would give them control of the franchises by the group. end of March. In the months leading up to the deadline, they looked for ways to raise capital, sources told ESPN.
In a recent announcement that he had canceled the contract, Taylor said Lore and Rodriguez had not transferred the remaining money by the March 27 deadline. Lore and Rodriguez said they could have closed their doors by then, but the NBA had not formally approved their purchase.
As part of a failed process to become majority owner, Lore and Rodriguez submitted financial projections forecasting a significant drop in payroll that Taylor said would jeopardize the franchise’s ability to compete for a championship, reports recently said. sources told ESPN.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez presented a budget projection as potential majority owners that would have reduced the Timberwolves’ payroll to $171 million starting next season, below the $172 forecast. million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would have gone from paying taxes of around $25 million plus to paying out taxes of around $6.5 million.
As minority partners, they approved contract extensions for Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley in recent months, which would certainly increase the team’s future payroll, sources said.
