While the sale of the Wolves was canceled at the last moment, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez had warned that they were going to fight to win their case, and validate the takeover of the franchise. Or rather franchises since the Lynx (WNBA) are part of the package.
For the moment, the NBA has not commented on the subject, but ESPN reveals that a mediation between the two parties is planned for May 1st. On one side, Glen Taylor, the current owner, who has ended the process of reselling his franchise. On the other, the Lore-Rodriguez duo who assures that the initial agreement was broken unilaterally, and that Glen Taylor stopped everything because the franchise exploded its value with its very good sporting results.
Late payment?
Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are challenging Glen Taylor's arguments that funds were validated too late and are pushing to reinstate the original deal, which included an automatic 90-day extension to gain NBA approval and majority ownership. Under this contract, mediation is the first step in the process of finding a resolution to the ongoing conflict.
It should be remembered that the group of investors, represented by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, had agreed to a three-step schedule to become majority shareholders of the Wolves.
In 2022 and 2023, they had made two payments to buy back 36% of the franchise, and they were about to make a third payment of $600 million for another 40%, and thus complete the buyout.
An alarming forecast?
According to Geln Taylor, Marc Lore and AlexRodriguez had not transferred the remaining money by the March 27 deadline, and he decided to terminate the sales process. For their part, the Lore-Rodriguez duo explained that they had to wait for the NBA to formally approve their purchase to make the payment.
Since this dramatic turn of events, both parties have increased their media outings. Glen Taylor thus explained that the “business plan” of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez anticipated a significant drop in payroll which, according to him, would jeopardize the franchise's ability to play for the title.
However, according to sources cited by ESPN, the two minority shareholders had accepted the contract extensions of Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley which, mechanically, would explode the “salary cap”.
