Report: Glen Taylor, A-Rod and Lore set for mediation over Timberwolves ownership dispute
The two sides will reportedly meet for mediation on May 1.
Who will be the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx when the public dispute between Glen Taylor and hopeful owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez is settled?
Taylor has repeated that he plans to continue running the show while Lore and Rodriguez have gone on record saying they did nothing to breach the contract that would've seen them become majority owners of Minnesota's NBA and WNBA franchises. Stuck in a stalemate, a mediation session has been scheduled for May 1, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Taylor, 83, announced March 28 that the teams were no longer for sale, claiming Lore and Rodriguez didn't meet contractual obligations laid out in the purchase agreement the two sides signed in 2021.
"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 Twin Cities TV station Fox 9 last week. "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."
Lore and Rodriguez have maintained that they didn't miss a deadline and believe Taylor has a case of "seller's remorse."
“We’re going to be the owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Lore told Sportico after Taylor's surprising decision to take the teams off the market. “It’s just a matter of time, and how much pain Glen wants to put the fans, the players, the town and community through. It’s his choice. It didn’t have to be this way.”
Rodriguez, an interview on the Dane Moore NBA Podcast, said he and Lore were waiting on NBA approval for funding when Taylor dropped a "nuclear bomb" on their plans.
"The only reason we’re here is because we’ve been attacked, and this is a childhood dream for Marc and I," Rodriguez said March 29. "And our lawyers tell us that we have an ironclad agreement, and we’ll never relent.”
It's unclear who is hosting the mediation and if it will result in the needle moving in favor of Taylor or Lore and Rodriguez.
