Report: Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore planned on roster payroll cuts
According to ESPN, the planned cuts concerned current majority owner Glen Taylor.
Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez were planning significant roster payroll cuts next season when they became majority owners of the Timberwolves, it has been claimed.
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski cited "sources" who told him of the financial plans, with Wojnarowski reporting it was something that concerned current majority owner Glen Taylor,
Lore and Rodriguez were set to close their sale of the Wolves on March 27, but a day later Taylor released a statement via the organization, saying that the duo had missed the deadline to purchase majority ownership in the team and that "the Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale."
Lore and Rodriguez, meanwhile, have disputed Taylor’s accounting of events in subsequent media appearances, saying they had already submitted the necessary documentation to the NBA for the purchase, which should have triggered an automatic 90-day extension.
Lore and Rodriguez were in the midst of a multistep process to purchase majority ownership of the Timberwolves and Lynx. They currently own 36% of the two Minnesota basketball franchises.
According to ESPN, in the financial paperwork submitted to the league by Lore and Rodriguez, the two rendered a budget projection that would have kept the Timberwolves under the $172 million luxury tax beginning next season. As it currently stands, according to ESPN, the Timberwolves are slated to have the fourth-highest payroll in the league next season at $198 million.
According to ESPN’s sources, Taylor believed the budgetary cuts would have jeopardized the team’s chances to compete for a championship moving forward.
The news from ESPN comes as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday at the NBA Board of Governors meeting that the league will have “no role” in the ownership dispute.
"It's not clear whether there will be a role for the league to get involved," Silver told assembled media after Wednesday's NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York. "There's a dispute now in the purchase agreement and in their purchase agreement they, in essence, pre-agreed to a dispute resolution mechanism that includes mediation and arbitration. That's where it stands. There is no role for the league in that process."
The Timberwolves are currently 55-24 and in the midst of their best season since 2003-04. They’re currently No. 1 in the Western Conference standings and have clinched a top-three seed in the postseason, which begins next week.
