T’Wolves minority owner Marc Lore said that he and fellow minority owner Alex Rodriguez will “fight ‘with all means possible’ to complete the last portion of their deal” to buy majority ownership in the team from Glen Taylor after the deal fell apart last week, according to Chirs Hine of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Hine noted both Lore and Rodriguez referred to owner Glen Taylor's announcement that he was pulling the T'Wolves and WNBA's Lynx off the market as a “nuclear bomb” that took them by surprise, since they “thought they had fulfilled the necessary contractual obligations in completing the deal.” Rodriguez said that he was “disgusted” and Lore said the announcement “blindsided” them. They said that Taylor “was not honoring the deal because the value of the franchise has gone up significantly” and he can “get more money than the agreed-upon gradual” $1.5B sale of the team in 2021. Lore said, "It's just bad faith that you have a deal and a contract, and then because you're able to get more money, you just decide I don't want the contract anymore.” Taylor said that Lore and Rodriguez “still have access to the arena, budgets and team personnel ‘as any limited partners would.’” But Taylor's counsel “did inform Lore and Rodriguez of guidelines for the future of the dynamic between the parties” with Lore and Rodriguez as “limited partners.” Previously, Lore and Rodriguez “participated in meetings with organizational leadership on the business and basketball sides” and had "access to parts of the arena that NBA limited partners normally do not get access to." Taylor's counsel informed Lore and Rodriguez that “will change moving forward” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 3/29).
NOT GOING QUIETLY: THE ATHLETIC’s Krawczynski & Charania wrote the opposing positions “indicate that a long, messy fight for the team is just getting started,” as neither side “appears ready to back down.” Rodriguez: “It is now personal. We can be in this (fight) for five years, 10 years, whatever. We’re not going to let go.” Lore said, “We will use every ounce of effort here to enforce the contract that Glen broke. So that means time, capital, whatever means necessary.” Lore: “It feels very much like a slap in the face and much more personal than even just about the money.” Krawczynski & Charania added Taylor’s side “views it as standard operating procedure” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/29). In St. Paul, Jace Frederick noted Taylor, and his wife, Becky, “were in their traditional courtside seats” for yesterday's bout with the Bulls amid the dispute with Lore and Rodriguez, while Lore and Rodriguez “were not in their usual courtside seats for the contest” (St. Paul PIONEER PRESS, 3/31).
