There has been much talk in recent days about the Phoenix Suns’ ownership change deal for about $4 billion.
However, there is also another NBA franchise that is changing “master.” It is the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose divestment is broken down into specific steps.
The divestment agreement between Glenn Taylor and the two new owners, Marc Lore e Alex Rodriguez, was reached in 2021. The two paid 20% of the agreed $1.5 billion. In recent days a further step was taken with the payment of another 20 percent, according to the contract. By mid-March, the two will pay another 20 percent and then, by the end of 2023, the final 40 percent that will bring them total control of the Timberwolves and Lynx of WNBA.
In the contract, however, it says that Taylor would not be required to continue the process if the new owners missed the balance of some installments, while still keeping them as minority partners based on what they had paid up to that point.
In reality, however, the successor owners had in fact already taken control of the franchise, putting under contract in the summer the Tim Connelly with the role of president of basketball operations, after snatching it from Denver. So far things are not going very well from a sports point of view with the Gobert operation that has not brought good results, given the current record of 16-19. In any case, however, when investing in an NBA franchise the sporting performance is now a secondary aspect to the economic one.
