Glen Taylor on Wolves sale: 'I'll just continue to keep the ownership'
'I'll have the controlling ownership and just keep on running.'
Glen Taylor isn't going anywhere.
The longtime owner of the Timberwolves and Lynx is embroiled in a battle for ownership of the teams after he pulled out of a deal with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. Taylor announced on March 28 that the teams were no longer for sale, claiming that Lore and Rodriguez didn't meet contractual obligations laid out in the purchase agreement the two sides signed back in 2021.
Lore and Rodriguez began a protracted takeover of the Wolves in April 2021, buying an initial 20% stake. The duo brought their total ownership percentage up to 40% with another purchase in March 2023. The final payment for another 40% stake of the clubs was set to be made March 27.
Taylor has contended the duo were late and missed the deadline, and now he intends to hold onto the club; Lore and Rodriguez have publicly refuted that claim, saying they've fulfilled their obligations.
"What I anticipate doing — if I can work everything out the way I'm planning on it — is I'll just continue to keep the ownership," Taylor told Fox 9 in an interview that aired Thursday. "I'll have the controlling ownership and just keep on running. We have a plan that upon my death we have a plan of what will happen, but they'll stay in Minnesota and they'll be controlled by my family."
With the agreement now in limbo, independent mediation will step in to sort things out.
"It was pretty simple negotiations," said Taylor. "I said that I'll name the price and you can name the terms. And I gave them the price, and they accepted the price, and the terms were they would pay for it over three years. We had a contractual agreement and the agreement said that the first two years they would come in as limited partners."
Lore and Rodriguez claimed in an interview with Dane Moore in March that the idea to spread the deal out over a three-year period was Taylor's idea, saying that it allowed Taylor to continue to head up operations while the duo eased their way in.
When it came time to make the final payment, Taylor claimed there were "certain things" the duo needed to get done to become majority owners and that "they didn't" get those things done.
In their interview with Moore, Lore and Rodriguez were critical of Taylor's handling of the situation, saying they received warnings before entering into the agreement and that once the deal was off, those same people said "I told you. He's a traitor." Rodriguez went on to say that Taylor "lived up to the Glen Taylor reputation."
"I like them now. It isn't that I dislike them," said Taylor of the shots from Lore and Rodriguez. "I know that they've taken some shots at me. I'd prefer they didn't and I won't against them."
Days after the initial news broke that the deal was off, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Taylor had concerns that Lore and Rodriguez wouldn't be able to sustain the team's recent success, that there were plans of significant cost cuts, including trimming team payroll next season.
"If I control it, it will [stay together]," Taylor said when asked about keeping the Wolves together long-term.
The Wolves look set to enter next season with a payroll in excess of $186 million, well over the $172 million luxury tax threshold due to significant raises for All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards.
Lore and Rodriguez have claimed that Taylor pulled out of the deal due to the increased value in the club since the original agreement was struck. The original purchase price the sides agreed to in 2021 was around $1.5 billion, but since then the value of the club is now worth double that ($2.94 billion) according to Sportico.
In a March interview with WCCO Radio, Taylor noted the increased value as a factor for calling off the deal saying, “I have a responsibility to my limited [partners] to get the best deal that I can for them."
Taylor noted then he was thinking of his partners, not that he needed any extra money for himself, and according to Fox 9's Jim Rich, "Glen said he doesn't need the money."
