Exclusive: New Minnesota Timberwolves Owner Marc Lore Opens Up About Life, Career And Purchase Of Team
Glen Taylor has been the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves since 1994, but there will be new majority owners of the franchise soon.
Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez agreed to a $1.5 billion deal to purchase the Timberwolves (and Minnesota Lynx) that begins with a 20% stake in ownership initially, and then can go to 40% in 2022 and in 2023 can extend to 80% (which would make them controlling owners).
Rodriguez is one of the most famous MLB players in history, and Lore is a businessman who was the CEO of e-commerce for Walmart and co-founder of Jet.com, which Walmart purchased for $3.3 billion in 2016.
Lore grew up with humble beginnings to a family in Staten Island.
The 50-year-old was the first person in his family to go to college, and his parents had him when they were just 20-years-old.
His father was a go-getter, and someone who would do anything to provide for his family.
At one point, Lore's dad went door-to-door selling vacuums.
"I was sort of born with the DNA of an entrepreneur," Lore said to Fastbreak on FanNation in exclusive phone interview. "When I was four-years-old I said I wanted to be a farmer, and I stuck with it for many years."
The reason Lore wanted to become a farmer (even though his grandparents wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer), was because he wanted to build something up from nothing.
Ironically, school was not his thing; he didn't make good grades, and was more interested in running track and playing soccer and football (even more ironic he didn't play basketball).
"Any kid that's into sports, you sort of have a dream of one day being a professional athlete," he said.
Once he realized that was not a realistic dream, the next focus was on one day owning a team.
Yet, that is also a long-shot dream.
Maybe even harder then being a professional athlete (there's only 30 teams in the NBA as opposed to 450 players).
Now, here he is, partners with one of the best baseball players ever, and accomplished the goal of being an owner.
Lore and Rodriguez were introduced by a mutual friend, and that friend thought that the pair would hit it off.
The rest is history.
"We realized we both had two daughters, we both grew up in a similar way, similar kind of dads," Lore said of Rodriguez. "We kind of got into it quickly, and just sort of connected on a values front. He came at it from sports, I came at it from business."
Lore says Rodriguez then told him about their attempt to buy the New York Mets, and he asked him about his interest in buying the team.
"We basically talked everyday about the Mets," Lore said.
They did not end up winning the bid for the Mets, but the loss ended up being a blessing in disguise.
"Hugely disappointing, depressing and that lasted about 48-hours," he said. "And then we both simultaneously said 'wait a second this happened for a reason, like it was meant to be, there was something bigger, better, more right for us.'"
Several months later they got a call, and were asked about their interest in buying an NBA team and speaking to the people with the Timberwolves.
They then went out to Minnesota to meet with Glen and Becky Taylor, who told them about the history and stories of the team.
"The values were aligned, I don't know it just got us," Lore said. "We got hooked on the story and the history. Alex and I both sort of see ourselves as underdogs. Growing up and where we came from, and Minnesota was sort of that underdog too."
For the sale of an NBA franchise, things progresses rather quickly.
"48-hours later basically, we kind of had a deal," he said. "We were just like 'holy shit did we just buy an NBA team?' "It all happened so fast, and then we were really excited, it felt right."
They had their reservations about the potential purchase of the Mets, but with the NBA, Timberwolves and Lynx, there was no such reservations.
"It was all in, full throttle," he said.
Lore travels with the team, and he is now seen at the games.
One of the biggest things that they want to do is be transparent about things within the organization, and include people in sensitive conversations.
"We're trying to break the mold a little bit, and approach things differently, more at the human level," he said. "I think the fundamental values of just being inclusive and trusting and transparent and fair is going to serve us well."
The franchise has only been to the playoffs one time (2018) since the 2004 season when they had Kevin Garnett.
Yet, the group they have this season appears as if they could change that.
D'Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards are an impressive young core that could challenge almost anyone in the league, especially offensively.
"Winning is sort of an output, I'm really focused on the inputs," Lore said. "If they're winning but they're not working hard, they're not playing together, I wouldn't be happy. If they're playing hard, fighting on every possession, playing good defense, putting their heart and sole into it and they're losing, I still feel better about that, because you know the winning will come if you got the inputs right."
Maybe the most interesting thing that Lore has been doing is trying to learn the game of basketball.
He was always an athlete, but just never really played basketball.
Now, he is trying to change that to connect with the players and the team.
"Just like everything in my life, if you're going to do something, you do it and go all-in," Lore said.
Lore hired Phil Beckner, a basketball coach who trains All-Stars such as Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard.
Beckner only trains NBA players, but Lore said he was intrigued by his interest in really learning how to play.
"I was playing 2-on-2 with Joel Embiid, a couple years back," Lore said. "Literally he said I was the worst basketball player he's ever seen."
Lore says he has been doing it five times a week, and wants to keep going to see how far he can take his game after starting so late in life.
"Where I was and where I am is night and day," he said.
