NBA Commissioner Adam Silver provides update on Timberwolves sale

The commissioner said 'we're on hold there' as they await decisions from Glen Taylor, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks in a press conference during All-Star Weekend ahead of the NBA All-Star Game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Feb. 15, 2025. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

The slow-moving sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx only continues to drag on.

After longtime owner Glen Taylor called off the sale of the franchises to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez last March, Lore and Rodriguez took it to an arbitration panel, which ruled in their favor in mid-February. That's allowed them to continue the process of completing the purchase for majority ownership, though Taylor currently remains in control until the sale can be completed, a process which requires approval from 23 of the 30 members of the NBA's Board of Governors.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver provided an update on the sale's status after Thursday's Board of Governors' meeting.

"On the Timberwolves, so where that stands is Glen Taylor does have the right to appeal, and I know he is considering his various options right now and I believe he's also talking directly to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez," Silver said. "We're on hold there and waiting for decisions among the parties."

The expectation is that Taylor won't try and challenge the arbitration ruling, which would be difficult and unlikely to change its outcome. According to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, Taylor would have to challenge the ruling in federal court, and the only way to overturn the ruling would be to demonstrate the ruling was compromised or overstepped its bounds.

Taylor agreed to sell the Timberwolves and Lynx to Lore and Rodriguez for $1.5 billion in 2021 in a multistep process that allowed them to increase their stake in the franchise until they assumed majority ownership. But just as the duo was set to complete the sale last year, Taylor called it off, saying they missed a deadline, an allegation Lore and Rodriguez denied.

That kicked off a nearly year-long arbitration battle that ruled in Lore and Rodriguez's favor in February. Now the process continues to play out until the Timberwolves officially change hands after all the final pieces at long last fall into place.