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Since the moment it was announced that Glen Taylor was voiding the Minnesota Timberwolves purchase agreement that he, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez had previously signed 3+ years earlier, the battle for majority ownership of the Wolves has been extremely public, toxic and muddy.
Several conflicting reports have been leaked by each side, leaving Wolves fans confused with which rich guy is bad, broke, cheap, uninterested, naive, greedy, regretful or otherwise. But a few crystal clear facts have emerged from the mud, no doubt.
Marc Lore shows NBA commissioner and owners newfound determination to complete Minnesota Timberwolves purchase
(1) Glen Taylor has been living with regret and trying to find a ripcord to pull on this deal (for one reason or another) for months, probably longer. And (2), the one person who could have stopped Glen Taylor’s runaway train of regret, Marc Lore, has been financially, physically and mentally unavailable for years, something a new report from NY Post hit on late Thursday night.
There had been speculation that Lore, who was not active in raising money for the March 27 payment, and was not putting much money into this round of financing, was not that concerned about taking majority ownership.
He has a much higher net worth than A-Rod, who was tasked with raising the money for the financing round.
NY Post
Lore paid his portion of the Wolves purchase early on and left Rodriguez to find his share (or more investors) to cover the rest. Meanwhile, he was focused on other things.
Marc’s money and time was wrapped up in separate ventures, specifically his new company “Wonder”. Lore told FOX Business, in February, that he was spending 100 hours per week on the food delivery venture. Let’s be clear, Marc Lore being focused on other businesses doesn’t make him a bad NBA owner. The dude’s a business builder, it’s what he does.
But, while Lore’s attention was elsewhere, and payment deadlines to Glen Taylor were being extended, the legacy owner of the Timberwolves, a person Kevin Garnett hates and openly calls “a snake”, saw an opportunity to retake control and he pounced. An opportunity that would not have been available to Taylor, had Lore been less distracted.
Had Marc cared more about completing the Timberwolves purchase, he could have made sure that payments were being made on time and that Glen had no window to even attempt what he eventually did, even if it meant that Lore had to foot more of the ownership bill than he had originally planned, something it now seems he’ll do anyway.
Marc Lore laser focused on beating Glen Taylor
Which is why this latest NY Post piece caught my attention. According to their report, Lore is no longer inattentive to his Timberwolves ownership. In fact, Marc got an invite from NBA commissioner Adam Silver, to attend the “evening reception” of league’s owners meetings last week.
Glen Taylor, who’s 82 years old, attended the meetings earlier in the day, but had his teeth in the glass already, by the time Lore arrived to win and dine with the most powerful people in the NBA later that night.
While there, Lore seems to have convinced some important people that, no matter what his priorities were over the last couple years, he’s all in on becoming the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves now. It sounds like that could mean investing in a larger chunk of team ownership than originally expected.
Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are far from giving up on their goal of owning the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources close to the situation told The Post on Thursday. On April 10, Lore attended the evening reception at the NBA Board of Governors meeting at the invitation of the NBA and mingled with Commissioner Adam Silver, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.
By showing up to the Governors Meeting, Lore signaled that he was fully engaged in this legal fight, sources said. Lore would be the controlling owner of the Timberwolves as opposed to his partner A-Rod.
NY Post
Marc Lore would be new Wolves majority owner, not A-Rod
Also in this NY Post article, we find that, as of today, Glen Taylor owns 36.1% of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Marc Lore + A-Rod group owns 36%. Are those numbers a coincidence?
Not according to this article, which says that in the past year, Glen purchased an additional 4% ownership stake from another minority owner, the exact amount needed to push his ownership to .1% more than that of Lore and A-Rod, likely meaning Taylor has been plotting to void this deal for over one year.
The theory goes that Taylor did this even though he was selling the team so when a legal fight happened about stopping Lore and A-Rod from increasing their stake, he would still have the largest equity position in the Timberwolves.
In other words, Lore and A-Rod believe he was plotting to stop this deal all along so they would not take control of the team regardless of whether they hit the deadline.
NY Post
Assuming everything above is true, including the very specific breakdown of current ownership, but especially Lore’s newfound motivation… it’s very possible that Glen Taylor is in trouble. Mediation, according to the NY Post, is set for May 2.
If negotiations fall through (which they are expected to), a judge will take the first step in deciding the franchise’s fate. Don’t forget though: no matter how this legal battle ends, the NBA commissioner and 23 league owners (75%) have to vote Lore into their proud fraternity.
And whether you agree or not, many of those NBA elites do not believe their new ownership applicant (a) cares enough about joining their brotherhood and/or (b) has the necessary liquid funds to operate a major pro sports franchise in 2024.
I mentioned it earlier in this article and I’ve written about it multiple times in the past. The key to this deal being completed has always been Marc Lore. He is the only sole person in the new ownership group who has put his money and reputation on the line, for this purchase.
As long as he was disconnected, apathetic or even semi-undetermined to see it through, there were no guarantees it would cross the finish line. That was before Glen terminated the deal. Once that happened, rehabbing his interest in the franchise wasn’t going to be enough.
Marc Lore needs to want it, if he’s gonna get it
Lore needs to prepare and ready himself for a drop-down, drag-out, 15-round legal death battle. If he isn’t ready for that, then he isn’t going to beat Glen Taylor, who has way more friends and top standing within the league offices than casual fans realize.
Which is exactly why Marc Lore was wining and dining with Adam Silver and (probably) two dozen NBA owners on April 10. For Lore (and A-Rod) to defeat Taylor, Marc needed to put his other business distractions aside and dive his ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves head first.
And from the sounds of this article, he’s at least begun that transformation. If true, maybe he and his minority owners may actually have a chance in this fight.
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