IF TAYLOR SELLS T'WOLVES, WILL STERN REVERSE SANCTIONS?

          NBA Commissioner David Stern "informed" T'Wolves Owner
     Glen Taylor that the team's $3.5M fine "would be lifted and
     the five first-round draft choices returned" for the team's
     secret agreement with F Joe Smith if Taylor and his group
     "decided to sell the team," according to sources of Sid
     Hartman of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE.  But Taylor, who
     met with his partners Saturday, said, "I have no intentions
     of selling the team."  Taylor said that the T'Wolves "are
     free of long-term debt but have some short-term debts," and
     added that he "is confident the team can survive the
     sanctions" (STAR TRIBUNE, 11/5). In Boston, Will McDonough
     wrote that before the Smith case went to an arbitrator,
     Stern "supposedly offered" the T'Wolves a compromise: Taylor
     and VP/Basketball Operations Kevin McHale would be suspended
     for nine months and the T'Wolves would lose two first-round
     draft choices.  But the T'Wolves reportedly "turned down the
     offer" and went to arbitration.  McDonough: "When they did
     and lost, Stern socked it to them" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/4).
     

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