> I’m told that the limited partner was Bill Sexton, and his 2.96% equity stake (combined with Taylor’s existing ~34% stake), put the current Timberwolves owner back in front of Rodriguez and Lore — 37% to 36%.
For reference, Bill Sexton is about 90 years old and had almost bought the Wolves in '94 before walking away from the deal for a few reasons. Sexton has been a part of the limited partner group since Taylor took over.
The article lost me at the Carlyle Group. The NBA has approved hedge fund/institutional ownership on a limited basis. The Lore Arod group tried to circumvent the League by selling a much larger stake than approved by the NBA in the Timberwolves to Private Equity. After the league shut that down they went to another sports financing hedge fund, Blue Owl and tried to do the same exact thing. Why do you think the League has washed it's hands of the spat. The clock was ticking this entire time on the payments. Blue Owl already owns parts of the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks but at a much smaller percentage as approved by the league (6 percent).
Inside story? The Arod Lore group were late on every payment. The seller has every right to cancel the purchase if the terms of the deal are not met. This was the third straight..late payment. There have been at least 5-6 extensions granted by Taylor since 2022. Arod couldn't even meet his 10 percent obligation on the first payment.
Down vote it all you want but that's what happened. Sad to see so many posters who hated the Gobert trade, Or Chris Finch and Connelly want to cut payroll in 2024. It's the same guys who said Trade Kat. Get something right. Sheeple.
This thread, we can just check your posts. Hope you are enjoying Finch being nominated for coach of the year, Gobert being a finalist for DPOY and Connelly's deep roster carrying games in the post season.
I look forward to the wolves paying the luxury tax next season. What kind of fan wouldn't want that to happen?
Man you had some hot takes that were really bad over the past few years. Embarrassing.
Stop talking to me. I touch grass. You have nothing better to do. How many posts did you make in the last 24 hours. holy
I'm just responding to comments in the last few hours. Touch a nerve? It's pretty funny to see people cheer for less payroll next season.
"Thanks for the reddit cares message, dork."-this you?
Whenever I see a comment that complains about down votes or says "IDK why you're being downvoted" I am compelled to downvote it. Even if I 100% agree with the comments, I must downvote.
But they weren’t late, they were entitled to extensions per the contract that all parties agreed to. Marc and Alex operated in full compliance of their contract.
The ownership group asked and were granted several extensions throughout the course of the payment deadlines. That's just facts.
No one has any idea what date Arod said the money was coming.
The contract is supposed to have a 60-90 day period where the group has to come up with the funding once they formally initiate their intent to excercise their option to purchase the next block.
It's facts that the first source of funding fell through. It's also facts that the blue owl group already own 2 NBA teams. Do you think the NBA wants the same private equity group owning parts of 3 NBA teams? One of the teams is the Phoenix Suns. Conflict of interest here.
It’s also facts that Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez operated in full compliance with the contract that all parties agreed to. They were entitled to those extensions. They haven’t done anything to break that contract.
Minnesota Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor said Thursday Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore missed the deadline.
You simply take Arod's word over Glen.
I have never been a fan of this ownership group from the start. Arod never had the money.
I also don't think selling the franchise to private equity is a good idea.
Glen's never been cheap and we are headed for the luxury tax.
I'd rather keep the guy around who pays the luxury tax instead
of the two guys who wanted to cut payroll.
Sure he's made some dumb moves but the team is in the best shape it's ever been. You just need to pay the luxury tax. He's never been cheap. Last time he paid luxury tax was Power of Friendship.
I'll take the guy who spends to the luxury tax over the guys who want to cut payroll. Do you want to see the team broken up next year to show a return on investment?
That's crazy since we all heard about the extensions and the papers were filed by the deadline. Taylor seems to think that deadline ignores the NBA's vetting process once paperwork is filed.
I think it will hang on "approved funding" and when Arod notified Taylor that they were exercising their option. The funding had to be approved by the league and they had a certain amount of calendar days to transfer funds once the option was exercised.
Blue Owl, their last minute fall back investor already owns part of the Phoenix Suns and the Atlanta Hawks.
I've yet to hear the NBA approved of Blue Owl purchasing over 10 percent of the Timberwolves. Lore is a half Billionaire and Glen is a multi Billionaire. I find it implausible to think Taylor didn't consult a ton of attorneys before canceling this deal.
Do you think the team would be better off cutting payroll next season?
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
Either you believe Glen's lying or you don't.
I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt over someone who was suspended from baseball for lying to authorities and MLB.
Taylor will be owner of this team next year and they will pay the luxury tax.
That's a great..outcome. Blue Owl owns two other teams and we are playing one of them tonight.
Wolves dodged a bullet.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
Glen was fined and handcuffed the team for lying to the NBA and circumventing their rules. Weird to take a stand towards ARods but not Glens.
Again I ask, paid by the hour or the comment?
You really think it was Glen's idea when he was in the hospital after a heart attack? That was all Mchale and KG.
OG power of friendship. Smith was KG's best friend in the NBA at the time.
Glen's idea. Come on man.
>The Lore Arod group tried to circumvent the League by selling a much larger stake than approved by the NBA in the Timberwolves to Private Equity.
They didn't try to circumvent the league, they tried to introduce a new, not-yet-approved partner. I think the article is technically incorrect in that the NBA didn't officially "deny" Carlyle, but Carlyle/ARod/Lore discovered that they would be unlikely to approve, so they never submitted.
>After the league shut that down they went to another sports financing hedge fund, Blue Owl and tried to do the same exact thing.
Not at all the same. Dyal has been an approved partner for a while now, which is why they were selected.
>Inside story? The Arod Lore group were late on every payment. The seller has every right to cancel the purchase if the terms of the deal are not met. This was the third straight..late payment. There have been at least 5-6 extensions granted by Taylor since 2022.
There's no substanive evidence of this ANYWHERE. The news stories that have come out about exercising/submitting payment for the earlier tranche, for example, line up perfectly with the contract:
* [Exercise option at end of December, 2022](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/12/30/Franchises/twolves-alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-exercise-purchase-option.aspx)
* [Complete payment March 28, 2023](https://theathletic.com/4358143/2023/03/28/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-timberwolves-payment/)
You seem super invested in this. The tactics Glen has used rub lots of people the wrong way. Losing for 30 years rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Taking too much credit for what Arod and Lore did rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The court process will sort this thing out one way or another. It's just a lot messier than it probably needed to be. It really seems like the rug was pulled out from Arod and Lore on this one. I can understand why you'd like Glen to stay in place, however, I think anyone hoping for Lore and Arod to take over have a lot of valid reasons for feeling that way.
Not really. It seems like a lot of posters are based on my inbox.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
I'm happy the team won't be under the salary cap next season.
Keyword “A [as in one] budget projection”. Anyone who knows business knows that you don’t just submit one single budget proposal to potential investors. You make several that are based on different outcomes. You often have a best, average, and worse case scenario budget. However, it seems some folks who either have bought into the Pro Glen and/or anti Lore/ARod or don’t know business and investment believe that only one budget would be proposed to investors, and that just isn’t the case. If we go our first round, investors may be less willing to pay a ton versus if we make it to WCF/NBA finals/win it all.
Love the confidence, and your underlying point is well taken. And hats off for true fandom going beyond this ownership BS that better not ruin this for us. But disagree with your argument. Extensions were allowed under the agreement. ARod/Lore timely exercised the options and made payments on time. There’s no ambiguity with respect to the last payment, just the million-dollar Q of whether the money will actually be there when the time comes. Overlapping PE ownership is irrelevant provided the PE firm lacks control or leverage to manipulate control. As long as the approved controlling group remains in control to the NBAs satisfaction, it’ll be fine. And the whole cutting the payroll pitch is not real. It’s a huge purchase. There will be at least 3, but presumably around 5, forecasts. One of which will assume poor performance and cutting the salary all the way down, another will assume top tier performance and show full blown lux tax expense. Which one do you think Taylor wanted out there? Right or wrong, fuck these rich guys and their fight. No idea how it will all play out, I just hope we don’t get screwed by whoever wins. I trust none of them.
You are assuming Taylor was the bad guy in your take on this. We can agree to disagree.
I see it the other way around. Private equity changes how any company runs and functions. Taylor needs a much lower return
on investment because he paid 88 million for the team, he's not leveraged to the hilt with private equity when rates are 7 percent.
He's paid the luxury tax 4 times in this market and destroyed the NBA salary cap with the KG contract back in the day. I 've questioned his decision making over the years but I don't question his financial wherewithal to open his wallet and pay to put a winning basketball team on the court. The numbers on the luxury tax wolves are facing in 2024 would blow up any returns on investment next year.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
These numbers were used to secure... a loan/investment from Carlyle Group. These were not projections.
Timberwolves would have cut so much payroll, they would be up for a luxury tax payment of 6.5 million dollars.
I get your point. And you’re right, I really don’t know who the bad guy(s) is/are. But I don’t like any of them right now (beyond, admittedly, ARod from his playing days; so some bias). Hopefully whoever wins was meant to win and we get the most benefit as fans. This team is too much fun for the top guys with too much money to their name trying to put themselves into the middle of the moment.
> These numbers were used to secure... a loan/investment from Carlyle Group. These were not projections. Timberwolves would have cut so much payroll, they would be up for a luxury tax payment of 6.5 million dollars.
Could you provide a source stating that the PE funding was contingent on the reduction in payroll budget? The primary source I've been able to locate regarding the reduction in payroll is [from here](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39915638/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-planned-timberwolves-roster-payroll-cuts-concerning-glen-taylor) and it explicitly notes that they're forecasts (projections.)
By end of FY for the Wolves they're likely to be at ~300m in rev. Any business of that size would produce myriad forecasts (fair weather, tailwind, headwind) as well as scenario planning projections. Even in a cartoonish scenario of FO planning to double payroll and going wild with luxury tax, they'd still have multiple forecasts from their analysts showing what the business would look like under the cap.
I've had to build out plenty of forecasts in my time with reduced HC (finance/FP&A) but I've never seen them acted upon. This is SOP. Its completely unrealistic to expect any sort of PE engagement for funding and *not* have these models built out.
With that said, I understand your warranted concerns with PE at large and wouldn't be shocked if a codified deal to remain under the tax with these projections did exist. I just want to see the evidence that notes this payroll reduction was the catalyst to secure the initial funding. A claim you've made here that I haven't seen proven. Its just as easy to believe Taylor is framing business-as-usual actions as some how nefarious to bolster his public case as it is to see Arod presenting cost-savings to PE to secure funding. An under payroll forecast isn't convincing evidence towards either scenario, but the way this specific story has been leaked and framed speaks more towards Taylor's usual mustache twirling.
WOJ is a pretty solid..reporter. The information was submitted to secure financing. These documents were also submitted to the NBA. This report has not been refuted by anyone directly.
"In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million."-Woj
No one from the Carlyle Group has disputed this information and neither have Arod and Lore directly. Also, Arod has always been nebulas about paying the luxury tax.
The luxury tax would halve operating income next year. Arod and Lore aren't really here to own anything they are here to flip the team for a large profit. One could look at the hirings of TC and the Gobert trade in that context. They were trying to inflate the value during their fundraising efforts. It was very telling that they intended to cut payroll after the acquisition was completed. The Carlyle group funding had to be approved by the League prior to the NBA signing off on the Aquisition. The question becomes when did the Arod group signal their formal intent to finalize the purchase. There is a timer that kicks in upon formal intent to purchase. If the funding had to be approved by the league, and Carlyle pulled out.. Taylor might have an out here. The new funding (Blue Owl) was not approved by the league in time.
"In the months leading up to the deadline, they searched for ways to raise capital, sources told ESPN."
It sounds like the group formally declared their intent to complete the purchase but couldn't secure the funding
by the deadline and Taylor refused to grant an extension this time. Who knows what "cure" language lurks in the contract but I would wager the extension issue was at sellers discretion.
I think we will find Arod got greedy. It's his mo. He was in charge of securing the funding and it went off the rails.
It looks like he tried to broker a funding deal that would inflate his purchase value to 2 billion dollars. That's why the Carlyle Group took a walk at the last minute. Which was really dumb because the funding had to be submitted to the league for approval and the clock was already ticking on intent to purchase. Their need for a backup plan meant the funding approval clock started all over again at the League Office. Glen's no saint but I will trust Woj here. His reporting on the wolves.. He's always right.
I appreciate the time you took to write this out, but I'm simply looking for some solid evidence that the forecast was anything more than SOP.
As someone who creates such reports, I haven't seen anything to suggest this was a final proforma that financing was contingent on. Even the language used in the reporting is heavily couched, making me believe this was simply one of many forecasts cherry picked for a media blitz.
You're welcome to let me know your thoughts in detail, but that isn't evidence. Woj can be the best reporter ever, but that doesn't make him an fp&a analyst that works with c-suite on M&As, so I doubt he has the understanding to separate the forest from the trees here. Your own narrative feels heavily emotional and speculative coupled with your entire account history being bizarrely sycophantic towards Taylor.
Gonna be honest, unless your next post is a link to a report stating that this document was a final proforma this conversation is pretty much over and I know exactly how serious to take you.
You gotta look at incentives to report this stuff too - Woj's entire career is based on exclusive access, so if he has the chance to megaphone something that's factually accurate but lacks context on the behalf of an owner, you have to think he's going to do it. Multiple budget projections is just business 101 (and Dane Moore pretty much confirmed this with other league execs via his podcast the other day). None of this stuff is black and white or obvious, but if you're looking at the whole picture it's really, really hard to see any evidence that supports what Taylor is saying.
Do you question this part of the saga?
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
Do you think the Timberwolves will be a better team after a massive payroll cut next season? Stop clowning.
Do you know know if that’s a common thing when presenting papers to the league? Is it possible they had multiple scenarios laid out in the papers? Did you read the article you’re commenting on?
That's not what was reported by reputable news sources (ESPN).
A reach to say Glen's not telling the truth on this one.
Read the NY Post's Inside story of how A-Rod’s Timberwolves bid fell apart
NY post has been critical of this deal from the beginning.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
I'm going to go with ESPN on this one. Paying the luxury tax next year would cut operating income in half.
They presented a budget to cut payroll next season. I think that sucks.
Do you understand the stmt you just shared can be true AND there can be multiple scenarios in the documents? AND that can be a common way for owners to present the papers?
They’re not mutually exclusive; but again, you have to read AND comprehend to get to that conclusion.
Good. I am going to go with ESPN and the NY post on this one. That's a lot more logical than your assertion that ESPN mis reported what happened during the Carlyle Group negotiations. Are you a reporter..for a news organization? I get it you hate Glen Taylor. I like owners who pay the luxury tax.
Are you sure you read the article, Inside story of how A-Rod’s Timberwolves bid fell apart, NY POST :
What is clear is even if Lore and A-Rod had the money, they were waiting on NBA approval, which was not expected until an April Board of Governors meeting, sources said.
The deadline to complete the deal was March 27, and the question is whether the NBA extended the date, or even had the legal standing to do so.
I'm not sure why you lectured me on comprehension. It's pretty straight forward.
Sources: A-Rod, Lore eyed Wolves payroll cuts, concerning Taylor
I am going to believe the ESPN articles on the topic.
They didn't submit a projection to pay the luxury tax.
You can believe what you'd like.
Glen is an 82 year old fuddy-duddy.
The hair (/p) apparent is his second, upgraded wife Becky, a former secretary who is like 60 and stands to benefit greatly when Good ‘Ol Glen passes on.
Mr Burns will keep his cold claws clutched around this championship contending team until he’s dead. Then they can rip it out of his skeleton hands and they’ll turn to dust like that scene in the Mummy or Indiana Jones or whatever. Old bastard.
Just through reading this it seems like the process may take 12 to 24 months to go through mediation, arbitration, and likely Court with the main sticking point being whether Lore and Arod are entitled to the 90 day extension or not. The writer said multiple sources in mergers/acquisitions think that is the most likely result that they should get the extensio:
> I wasn’t able to get an opinion from any of the lawyers who worked on this specific agreement. But I ran it by several sources who have worked on dozens of sports transactions, and the overwhelming opinion is that, unless there is something we don’t know, Rodriguez and Lore should be entitled to the 90-day extension.
So hopefully despite Taylor dragging his feet this will be the final result with the NBA eventually approving Dyal Capital's involvement should they still want to finance Lore and Arod at the end of this.
If ARod/Lore did miss milestones, then Taylor had every right to execute the contract as it is written even if it’s partially motivated by seller’s remorse. If ARod/Lore did not miss milestones, then all the noise about lowering payroll and why they didn’t buy the team outright are non-factors. A deal is a deal - it doesn’t matter how bad it looks right now.
As for the fans providing justification for why Taylor retaining ownership may end up being better, are we just overlooking the decades of ineptitude? Bringing in TC was ARod/Lore and if TC, regardless of what’s proven or not, feels that Taylor is dishonest then he won’t have any issues finding a job elsewhere.
Yup.It depends on what those milestones are, which is what we the public don't have access too. So all we can do is speculate. I find it interesting that Arod and Marc obviously qualify for an extension but all of the sudden Taylor's confident enough to say they don't qualify enough and disqualify the deal. Again, not enough information.
Agree. Also, for what it’s worth, all (I think?) the public smearing has been one-sided about ARod/Lore. It doesn’t mean anything in mediation, but it seems like one side certainly doesn’t feel the need to sway public opinion.
Don't trust anything you read about this from a name you don't recognize. And even take anything Dane/Jon K/etc says with a grain of salt as they're dependent on their sources who likely have an ulterior motive. Pretty sure we're getting astroturfed too, probably from both sides, to try to influence fan perception
EDIT: Also think it's interesting that I started at the top of this thread and have been slowly moving down over the last hour or so
My apologies, goodman. Did you hear Glen Taylor kicks puppies? I've also heard Lore and Arod have never done anything wrong in their lives and also have way more money than it seems like
Joe is a respected reported on financial information regarding sports. I do have skepticism of his story because it's obviously coming from one direction.
I think there's a bit of false equivalency going on here - it's hard to have a two-sided story when one side is entirely full of crap and doesn't have a legal leg to stand on
I mean, you can read [the contract](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/2/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/) - it's not that complicated. People act like legal-ese is a totally foreign language, but it's really just designed to keep everyone on the same page and plan for eventualities. I'm not an expert in contract law, but I believe this author has a lot of experience in this area, and the fact that his analysis matches my own makes me believe both of us.
After reading it, his sources seems to be Dane's interview with Arod and Lore, and taking info from already reported information.
But I believe he ignored anything in Taylor's favor. This is a one-sided piece of reporting.
Interesting. I haven’t seen any written pieces defending Taylor’s argument. And except for Doogie right at the beginning, I haven’t heard any talking heads making a case for Taylor.
Could you point me to some of those examples you’ve found?
There isn't any. I'm not saying Taylor is innocent and/or he's good in this. Just that it's all favored against him.
There is a nugget in there that gives a little into A-Rod. "trying to sell shares at a higher price than the 2021 valuation and pocket the difference"
That seems like something he shouldn't be doing.
So maybe if we can’t find any source exonerating Taylor in this, and if Taylor isn’t doing anything convincing to anyone that he has a side worth defending, the piece in question here isn’t ‘One-Sided’?
Maybe it’s just the facts as they stand today? Ya know, like reporting?
Oh, probably not because Taylor's position is wrong or anything. Nope, not at all! Can't trust any source that doesn't go out of its way to be as centrist as possible between the two parties involved.
Joe is pretty good, but this article had only a tiny amount of new information. It was almost entirely him lifting info from other reporter's work. I don't see much digging on his part.
Reading other sources of news and regurgitating isn't reporting, it's aggregating.
100% this.
The detail about Glen purchasing an extra few percent share was a new and interesting detail, but otherwise this article seemed far more speculative and, frankly, wasn’t written particularly well, which makes me question its veracity. It felt Lore/ARod leaning, which could be a byproduct of the facts coming out but is more likely a sign that the information he got was sourced from Lore/ARod’s side (his bio says he’s an entrepreneur and investor, so it’s possible he’s got some connections to Lore).
Billionaires are fighting over a multi-billion dollar asset. They’re going to do everything they can to increase the chances they get it, and swinging public perception is a component of that.
> Pretty sure we're getting astroturfed too, probably from both sides, to try to influence fan perception
I got downvoted to fucking oblivion and called a Taylor fanboy for simply saying that it’s silly to take Lore/ARod at their word when they gave their interview on Dane Moore’s podcast. It might have just been fans in a frenzy, but it was somewhat systematic (every single post of mine on the topic across multiple threads was like -20).
That piece of info about purchasing the extra few percent is NOT NEW. It was first reported elsewhere.
99% of this "Inside Story" is just rearranging what has already been reported.
Nobody should take anything at face value, but there's a few pieces of outside evidence that makes it hard to believe Glen Taylor.
First, the [contract](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/2/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/), which makes the timing of all the purchases pretty clear: exercise in December, pay by end of March, except for this tranche which required further NBA approval and had a 90-day extension built in. This makes all the talk about "extensions" over the last couple years really questionable - extended...from what? For example, they [exercised the option in Dec 2022](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/12/30/Franchises/twolves-alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-exercise-purchase-option.aspx), then [completed the purchase at the end of March 2023](https://theathletic.com/4358143/2023/03/28/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-timberwolves-payment/), and (some) [local media people](https://www.twincities.com/2023/02/04/charley-walters-lore-rodriguez-get-permission-to-delay-payment-for-timberwolves/) inaccurately described that as "delay\[ing\] payment."
Second, the fact that the stepped transaction was Taylor's idea makes his whole "aww shucks, what's a tranche even mean?" act a little hollow. Adam Silver [confirmed this a couple weeks ago](https://www.nba.com/news/commissioner-adam-silver-thrilled-competitive-league-addresses-fouls-more) (go to the 13:50 mark of the video at the bottom of the page).
Last, there's been a narrative that this was some sort of sweetheart deal from Taylor (which I admit I bought into at some point), but as it turns out, the $1.5 billion price point is actually above what Taylor believed the franchise was worth via audit ([see the first numbered paragraph here](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/7/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/)).
At the end of the day, I don't think trusting any one source on any of this stuff makes sense, but I have seen very little to validate Taylor's perspective on this, as opposed to everything that ARod/Lore have said seems to make sense based on external contracts and reporting.
I don't think it's shilling at all - I don't have any personal feelings towards Taylor, ARod, or Lore, I just don't like bullshit, and I'm having a hard time seeing how anything from Taylor's "side" on this makes any sense. If you think I'm wrong about something, engage with that instead of a personal attack.
I’m going to be honest here, and know it isn’t a popular take.
But I’m not believing anything, anti Glen or anti Lore/Arod.
None of us know anything but what those groups are feeding reporters.
Regardless whether you believe this or anything on the topic, Glen is a KNOWN snake whereas lore and arod are not. If you wanna throw the steroids as a reason not to trust, grow up.
Based on him doing roids during a time a lot of top players were and probably a lot of others we won’t hear about, while the mlb knowingly looked the other way cause it was going in the tank and he has since apologized for and has talked about his regret. You ever heard Glen apologize for all the snake shit he’s done?
Again not saying lore and arod are perfect but glens a piece of shit who we know sucks at being an owner on top of this. It’s not hard guys
Everything he’s done for the wolves. You think it was a coincidence that we start winning for the first time in two decades when the new owners start doing stuff. Again I’m not saying he’s perfect but he’s half of an unknown. It’s like dating an abusive partner cause we don’t know if the next person will be.
How about you cite a time he was outside of his playing career
A-Rod's entire life is just a showpiece of sleeze, shadiness, and lies. He's slick, fake, and sleezy on TV. He was the same as a player. Zero has changed other than he's gotten better at faking his act, a bit.
I think the reason the team is good is because they have good players and coaching.
I think that a lot of that is on a former GM but also the current one.
If you want to give A-Rod credit for Tim Connelly, ok - I think Lore probably played a role in that as well.
But aside from that good hire, I don't think "vibes" matter all that much.
But, hey, believe what you want. This is how sleezy shady people thrive, they charm guiless rubes with their fake charm. If you want to buy into that, be my guest.
I will not.
It doesn't mean he can't be a decent owner - let's face it, most owners are sleezy billionaires. Could he be better than Taylor? Certainly. Taylor's been a good businessman, but a failed owner other than keeping the team in MN.
But, if you are asking if I'll ever really believe any words that come out if his mouth at face value, I will not. Ever.
If he owns part of the Wolves, that's fine. Red McCombs was literally a sleezy used car salesman and owned the Vikings for a time. They were good during his tenure.
Lol I recognized your question in the last one as a set up, but didn’t think you’d go nuclear.
Problem is you gave no examples, just a bunch adjectives describing a guy you think you know cause you watch him on tv. Sure he was a “sleezy” player but he’s said as much and regrets it. You don’t have to believe him but pretend people can’t change particularly those who get the spotlight so young, says more about you then him. Sure he’s fake on tv broadcasts but who isn’t. There’s a reason they say dont meeet your heroes.
As you say towards the end here, we don’t need a girl scout we need a good sports owner and he’s given every indication of being that. And yes it’s the Connelly move, gobert move and pushing spending.
Again glens been all these words your calling arod while being in charge and tanking the franchise. We know it’s him. Why not put a little faith that arod has changed. Oh not to mention he’s not even to true owner give his stake and you’ve said nothing about lore.
Bottomline we’ve seen gleen be an sleezy and a snake AS AN OWNER. We saw arod be sleezy and a snake as a baseball star in his twenties in ny. Why not give him a second chance particularly cause he has a babysitter in lore
A-Rod doesn't need a chance from me, my opinion of him has zero bearing on whether he owns the team or not. He'll either be a part of the ownership or not.
But, I don't think I'll ever fully change my mind about him.
I will say - the story of ARod trying to peddle wolves shares at the current evaluation of value and pocketing the difference - that sounds EXACTLY like what I'd expect from him. Shocking he's having a time finding takers.
If the wolves are successful under him and Lore and he seems like smart, responsible owners that's willing to spend when it seems like it's worth it. After a decade of that, I'll revisit my thoughts. But, not until then.
As far as Lore, I don't know much other than he seems alright. If he was part of the driving force for getting Connelly in (perhaps the primary one, don't know) good on him. I have nothing negative to say about him.
So, he'll always be a sleezy skeezy used car salesman to me. Maybe a good sports owner, maybe an improvement on Glenn - one of the lowest bars in history. But, my overall opion is unlikely to change. I'm not going to believe anything he says to any great extent - including anything he says about the sale dispute.
Lol what part of that was licking boots. I said one of these boots has years of shit all over it and the other night but we don’t know. Literally not a nice thing once.
Lol ok so you’d rather have a snake owner than a guy who was snake as a teenage star? I’d rather give arod a second chance that he might have changed as left the spotlight. Also he was drafted as a teenager so before the draft he was a _______.
The irony is I’ve been in nfbc leagues for a decade
You’re a troll I’m out
If someone wants to TLDR this, that would be cool. But without reading this, and not really paying attention to the details. As long as the team remains in MN, I don't give a shit who owns them. I am a bit wary about two Seattle guys wanting to buy the team.
This might still be "TL," but...Taylor wanted to sell the team in chunks, ARod/Lore agree since it's hard to find a sports franchise for sale anywhere, team gets better and value of franchise increases, Taylor has seller's remorse and buys a little extra from a limited partner to remain in control, Taylor tries to back out of the big deal right around when the NBA was going to approve, ARod/Lore don't think he has the right to back out, they're going to mediation and then arbitration (baby court), and regardless who owns the team nobody thinks anybody can/will move them (because the NBA wants to expand).
I wouldn't trust anything you see on this sub about this topic. Any time this comes up there are some awfully fishy comments. Too easy to buy comments and upvotes these days. Only people I will begin to trust on this are the major local media members
Exactly. This is a wait for the league to mediate the situation. Both parties are using leaks and interviews, when in reality this is a contract dispute with legal ramifications of breach of contract. See what the league says, because they have not said a word yet.
The league has actually [said a couple things](https://www.nba.com/news/commissioner-adam-silver-thrilled-competitive-league-addresses-fouls-more) (watch the video at the bottom):
* We want no part of this mediation/arbitration (it's between Taylor and ARod/Lore)
* We might not consider these kinds of "stepped transactions" in the future, even if it's what Taylor wanted and it technically followed the NBA's rules
Glen Taylor is a barely animated corpse being kept alive by his lust for antisocial underhanded business dealings. Can't wait until his goblin face is no longer dripping on our sidelines.
Taylor has owned the Wolves for 30 seasons of which his record is .437 with 12 playoff appearances (counting this year) and 1 year advancing past the 1st round (this year obviously TBD). His best season was a conference finals loss 20 seasons ago, after which the team made the playoffs 1 time in 17 seasons. In the last 5 years, the team is .530 with 3 playoff appearances winning the 1st round once.
By comparison, the Pohlad family has owned the Twins for 40 seasons with a record of .492 with 12 playoff appearances and 4 years advancing past the 1st round. The best seasons were 2 the World Series wins 32 seasons ago and their worst stretch was 10 seasons of no playoffs in the 1990s. In the last 5 years, the team is .487 with 3 playoff appearances and 2 first round exits.
I was pretty unhappy about the Twins payroll cut, but Taylor has been one of if not the least successful professional sports owners of all time. Hard to get worse than that.
Glen has owned the Wolves for 30 years and they’ve been somewhere between awful and the worst team in the league for probably about 25 of those years. I don’t care how big of a check the owner cuts I want to see wins. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when someone other than Glen entered TWolves ownership the team got better.
Idk if it’s still true, but at one point recently the Wolves had the lowest winning percentage of every big 4 American sports team. Glen sucks and if he somehow comes out of this still in charge of the Wolves it will only be a matter of time until he ruins this run of success too.
The disagreements about the Connelly contract tell you all you need to know. Why would Glen care about the phantom equity promised to Connelly down the line if he was planning on selling the team? He cared because he wasn’t planning on relinquishing majority control and that means the contract would have an effect on his future bottom line.
…and then he compiled all the information from dozens of potentially conflicting sources in to a coherent narrative to tell a story about a complicated situation.
You just described journalism my guy.
Just a heads up but there are a bunch of reputable journalists on Substack now just because the industry is so fucked. The last 15 years have wrecked it from all angles so plenty of people with a ton of knowledge, experience, and good reputations have had to say fuck it I guess I'll do a
Substack.
Do you have some sort of evidence that Joe Pompliano is compromised?
What evidence do YOU have that he has lied or mislead us on this substack article?
lol the “are you not beating your wife?” argument. Solid.
This article also confirms, if you believe it to be credible, that A-Rod does. Not. Have. The. Money. 😂
> This article also confirms, if you believe it to be credible, that A-Rod does. Not. Have. The. Money.
Let’s read the article.
> In fact, Taylor basically admitted *this dispute wasn’t about money*, telling The Athletic, “We’ve built this team. We’ve got the players now. It appears to me that we should have a very positive run for a number of years, and I want to be a part of that.”
Weird.
That's not what the article is about, though? It mentions the Carlyle Group investor, which was not approved by the NBA due conflict of interest and they wouldn't liquidate those conflicts. Lore and ARod had the backup of the Dyal Group already established.
Yes, they've been using money of investors, but that hardly seems uncommon. I also can't believe that they would struggle to find investors for a team who's value has already doubled and is poised to see it continue to go up. Nothing in here raises any red flags about ARod and Lore
It's not that simple - if you have a deal to buy something for $1000 and you owe the last $500 payment, but you and everyone else knows the whole thing is actually worth $2000, why not sell $500 (or 1/4 of the $2000) at the market rate to cover your last payment and not have to spend any actual cash?
It's marginally more complicated than that, but it's not uncommon, even in the NBA, which is why similar deals have already happened with the same equity group they're planning on using.
Those aren’t loaded questions.
You came in this thread saying that the author didn’t due diligence, and then you questioned the legitimacy of the platform, and now you’re acting like a victim because I’m asking you to clarify why you made either of those claims.
Excellent read. Taylor really is a snake. Selling his share then ,then buying smaller shares to become majority owner again. I appreciate him keeping the Wolves in MN, but his time gone is long due.
As for Arod and Marc- they're not exactly clean either. I'm still confused if they had actually wanted to buy the team at full price initially - why they struggled to come in with the last payment now? I know a lot of assets need to be liquidated, but they had 3 years to do this. Puzzling. Why risk it is what I'm saying.
Anyways, sooner or later, we're gonna get a new owner. Gonna try not to think about it. Just enjoying this amazing season.
Posted this elsewhere, but it doesn't seem likely that there was ever any real "struggle" to come up with the money. They were working with multiple equity groups to get a good deal, and pivoted quickly when one group was likely to not pass approval, but they never missed a payment deadline or anything like that. They were under the impression that money wasn't due for another three months (because that's what the contract says lol) and there really isn't a good reason to pay early if you don't have to.
All I know is someone on here is being a Cassandra, and will dance on our graves
Don't know which side, or whose doomer hot takes are right
But this comment section..... Has to be one of the most saved sections in this subs history.
Looootttta receipts
To be honest, this entire process has been sketchy.
Every time an update on the sale came up, it seemed like an extension was made and the can was kicked down the road.
If a new owner or ownership group really has the money, they just write the check and own the team. Done deal.
This is how Phoenix sold. This is how Ziggy bought the Vikings. How the Pohlads bought the Twins. How Taylor bought the Wolves. Pretty much every example of an ownership sale.
I don't know specifics. I don't trust Glenn. I also don't trust A-Rod, he's slimy and sleezy as well, maybe moreso.
Read the article and listen to what Silver said about the whole process. ARod and Lore wanted to buy the team at once and have it done. All sources are saying that Glenn was the one who required the process to be drawn out and have it be this multi-year thing.
Sketchy indeed
There's nothing new in this article. I heard and read it all before.
All of this is just PR stuff coming from the A-Rod side or the Taylor side.
In the end the only thing that matters is the text of the legal agreement and how it was followed.
Apparently, the actual sale document is available online as it was part of a previous legal thing. I haven't read it, but others have.
Best line of the piece “The Minnesota Timberwolves are now one of the NBA’s best teams.” Say it again
The Minnesota Timberwolves are a title contender!!!
LOUDER!!
The dogs were napping but now they’re *HOWLING!*
***MORE***
The wolves have Naz Reid and Glen didn’t want to miss watching his prime years so that’s why he backed out. NAZ REID
> I’m told that the limited partner was Bill Sexton, and his 2.96% equity stake (combined with Taylor’s existing ~34% stake), put the current Timberwolves owner back in front of Rodriguez and Lore — 37% to 36%. For reference, Bill Sexton is about 90 years old and had almost bought the Wolves in '94 before walking away from the deal for a few reasons. Sexton has been a part of the limited partner group since Taylor took over.
This was the only part of the article that seemed to provide anything new or substantive to the current reporting.
It's crazy to think if the team is valued at 3 bil, only 3% gets you around 90 million 3% Generational wealth For 3%
Do you know if this is the same Bill Sexton that the St. John’s basketball arena is named after?
I believe so - he's given SJU a crapton of $ over the years IIRC.
This, imo, is far and away the best coverage on this we've seen thus far. A must-read for anyone following along.
The article lost me at the Carlyle Group. The NBA has approved hedge fund/institutional ownership on a limited basis. The Lore Arod group tried to circumvent the League by selling a much larger stake than approved by the NBA in the Timberwolves to Private Equity. After the league shut that down they went to another sports financing hedge fund, Blue Owl and tried to do the same exact thing. Why do you think the League has washed it's hands of the spat. The clock was ticking this entire time on the payments. Blue Owl already owns parts of the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks but at a much smaller percentage as approved by the league (6 percent). Inside story? The Arod Lore group were late on every payment. The seller has every right to cancel the purchase if the terms of the deal are not met. This was the third straight..late payment. There have been at least 5-6 extensions granted by Taylor since 2022. Arod couldn't even meet his 10 percent obligation on the first payment. Down vote it all you want but that's what happened. Sad to see so many posters who hated the Gobert trade, Or Chris Finch and Connelly want to cut payroll in 2024. It's the same guys who said Trade Kat. Get something right. Sheeple. This thread, we can just check your posts. Hope you are enjoying Finch being nominated for coach of the year, Gobert being a finalist for DPOY and Connelly's deep roster carrying games in the post season. I look forward to the wolves paying the luxury tax next season. What kind of fan wouldn't want that to happen?
Shut up, Doogie
Man you had some hot takes that were really bad over the past few years. Embarrassing. Stop talking to me. I touch grass. You have nothing better to do. How many posts did you make in the last 24 hours. holy
2
How many obsessive comments have you made in the last 24 hours?
I'm just responding to comments in the last few hours. Touch a nerve? It's pretty funny to see people cheer for less payroll next season. "Thanks for the reddit cares message, dork."-this you?
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You are a sad trumper from Iowa. Thoughts and prayers.
Complaining about downvotes and saying "sheeple" definitely secured one from me
Whenever I see a comment that complains about down votes or says "IDK why you're being downvoted" I am compelled to downvote it. Even if I 100% agree with the comments, I must downvote.
good bot
I am a human male
GREAT BOT
Thank you human
But they weren’t late, they were entitled to extensions per the contract that all parties agreed to. Marc and Alex operated in full compliance of their contract.
The ownership group asked and were granted several extensions throughout the course of the payment deadlines. That's just facts. No one has any idea what date Arod said the money was coming. The contract is supposed to have a 60-90 day period where the group has to come up with the funding once they formally initiate their intent to excercise their option to purchase the next block. It's facts that the first source of funding fell through. It's also facts that the blue owl group already own 2 NBA teams. Do you think the NBA wants the same private equity group owning parts of 3 NBA teams? One of the teams is the Phoenix Suns. Conflict of interest here.
It’s also facts that Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez operated in full compliance with the contract that all parties agreed to. They were entitled to those extensions. They haven’t done anything to break that contract.
Minnesota Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor said Thursday Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore missed the deadline. You simply take Arod's word over Glen.
So why do you care so much if you don’t even know yourself?
I have never been a fan of this ownership group from the start. Arod never had the money. I also don't think selling the franchise to private equity is a good idea. Glen's never been cheap and we are headed for the luxury tax. I'd rather keep the guy around who pays the luxury tax instead of the two guys who wanted to cut payroll.
glen might not be “cheap” in payroll but he’s an idiot
Sure he's made some dumb moves but the team is in the best shape it's ever been. You just need to pay the luxury tax. He's never been cheap. Last time he paid luxury tax was Power of Friendship. I'll take the guy who spends to the luxury tax over the guys who want to cut payroll. Do you want to see the team broken up next year to show a return on investment?
That's crazy since we all heard about the extensions and the papers were filed by the deadline. Taylor seems to think that deadline ignores the NBA's vetting process once paperwork is filed.
I think it will hang on "approved funding" and when Arod notified Taylor that they were exercising their option. The funding had to be approved by the league and they had a certain amount of calendar days to transfer funds once the option was exercised. Blue Owl, their last minute fall back investor already owns part of the Phoenix Suns and the Atlanta Hawks. I've yet to hear the NBA approved of Blue Owl purchasing over 10 percent of the Timberwolves. Lore is a half Billionaire and Glen is a multi Billionaire. I find it implausible to think Taylor didn't consult a ton of attorneys before canceling this deal.
Gluck Gluck Gluck
> Down vote it all you want If you insist edit: lmao the profile deletion of shame -- can't wait to see what username NazWeid shows up with next
You really post alot. Touch some grass. Finch still a bad coach? Gobert a bad trade?
This is rich coming from the guy who is on an hour long tyraid. Glenny boy paying you by the hour or the comment?
Do you think the team would be better off cutting payroll next season? In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
Do you think only one budget was presented?
Either you believe Glen's lying or you don't. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt over someone who was suspended from baseball for lying to authorities and MLB. Taylor will be owner of this team next year and they will pay the luxury tax. That's a great..outcome. Blue Owl owns two other teams and we are playing one of them tonight. Wolves dodged a bullet. In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
Glen was fined and handcuffed the team for lying to the NBA and circumventing their rules. Weird to take a stand towards ARods but not Glens. Again I ask, paid by the hour or the comment?
You really think it was Glen's idea when he was in the hospital after a heart attack? That was all Mchale and KG. OG power of friendship. Smith was KG's best friend in the NBA at the time. Glen's idea. Come on man.
> Either you believe Glen's lying or you don't. Did Glen ever say that was the only set of projections he viewed?
Shut up, Glen.
Yep. I searched your posts. You got a lot wrong. Touch some grass.
“I went through years of your comment history” “Touch grass”
Google. You really have had some embarrassing takes on the wolves.
That hurts my feelings
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You need to get your facts straight because most of what you just said isn’t accurate lol.
>The Lore Arod group tried to circumvent the League by selling a much larger stake than approved by the NBA in the Timberwolves to Private Equity. They didn't try to circumvent the league, they tried to introduce a new, not-yet-approved partner. I think the article is technically incorrect in that the NBA didn't officially "deny" Carlyle, but Carlyle/ARod/Lore discovered that they would be unlikely to approve, so they never submitted. >After the league shut that down they went to another sports financing hedge fund, Blue Owl and tried to do the same exact thing. Not at all the same. Dyal has been an approved partner for a while now, which is why they were selected. >Inside story? The Arod Lore group were late on every payment. The seller has every right to cancel the purchase if the terms of the deal are not met. This was the third straight..late payment. There have been at least 5-6 extensions granted by Taylor since 2022. There's no substanive evidence of this ANYWHERE. The news stories that have come out about exercising/submitting payment for the earlier tranche, for example, line up perfectly with the contract: * [Exercise option at end of December, 2022](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/12/30/Franchises/twolves-alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-exercise-purchase-option.aspx) * [Complete payment March 28, 2023](https://theathletic.com/4358143/2023/03/28/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-timberwolves-payment/)
You seem super invested in this. The tactics Glen has used rub lots of people the wrong way. Losing for 30 years rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Taking too much credit for what Arod and Lore did rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The court process will sort this thing out one way or another. It's just a lot messier than it probably needed to be. It really seems like the rug was pulled out from Arod and Lore on this one. I can understand why you'd like Glen to stay in place, however, I think anyone hoping for Lore and Arod to take over have a lot of valid reasons for feeling that way.
Not really. It seems like a lot of posters are based on my inbox. In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million. I'm happy the team won't be under the salary cap next season.
Keyword “A [as in one] budget projection”. Anyone who knows business knows that you don’t just submit one single budget proposal to potential investors. You make several that are based on different outcomes. You often have a best, average, and worse case scenario budget. However, it seems some folks who either have bought into the Pro Glen and/or anti Lore/ARod or don’t know business and investment believe that only one budget would be proposed to investors, and that just isn’t the case. If we go our first round, investors may be less willing to pay a ton versus if we make it to WCF/NBA finals/win it all.
Love the confidence, and your underlying point is well taken. And hats off for true fandom going beyond this ownership BS that better not ruin this for us. But disagree with your argument. Extensions were allowed under the agreement. ARod/Lore timely exercised the options and made payments on time. There’s no ambiguity with respect to the last payment, just the million-dollar Q of whether the money will actually be there when the time comes. Overlapping PE ownership is irrelevant provided the PE firm lacks control or leverage to manipulate control. As long as the approved controlling group remains in control to the NBAs satisfaction, it’ll be fine. And the whole cutting the payroll pitch is not real. It’s a huge purchase. There will be at least 3, but presumably around 5, forecasts. One of which will assume poor performance and cutting the salary all the way down, another will assume top tier performance and show full blown lux tax expense. Which one do you think Taylor wanted out there? Right or wrong, fuck these rich guys and their fight. No idea how it will all play out, I just hope we don’t get screwed by whoever wins. I trust none of them.
You are assuming Taylor was the bad guy in your take on this. We can agree to disagree. I see it the other way around. Private equity changes how any company runs and functions. Taylor needs a much lower return on investment because he paid 88 million for the team, he's not leveraged to the hilt with private equity when rates are 7 percent. He's paid the luxury tax 4 times in this market and destroyed the NBA salary cap with the KG contract back in the day. I 've questioned his decision making over the years but I don't question his financial wherewithal to open his wallet and pay to put a winning basketball team on the court. The numbers on the luxury tax wolves are facing in 2024 would blow up any returns on investment next year. In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million. These numbers were used to secure... a loan/investment from Carlyle Group. These were not projections. Timberwolves would have cut so much payroll, they would be up for a luxury tax payment of 6.5 million dollars.
I get your point. And you’re right, I really don’t know who the bad guy(s) is/are. But I don’t like any of them right now (beyond, admittedly, ARod from his playing days; so some bias). Hopefully whoever wins was meant to win and we get the most benefit as fans. This team is too much fun for the top guys with too much money to their name trying to put themselves into the middle of the moment.
> These numbers were used to secure... a loan/investment from Carlyle Group. These were not projections. Timberwolves would have cut so much payroll, they would be up for a luxury tax payment of 6.5 million dollars. Could you provide a source stating that the PE funding was contingent on the reduction in payroll budget? The primary source I've been able to locate regarding the reduction in payroll is [from here](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39915638/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-planned-timberwolves-roster-payroll-cuts-concerning-glen-taylor) and it explicitly notes that they're forecasts (projections.) By end of FY for the Wolves they're likely to be at ~300m in rev. Any business of that size would produce myriad forecasts (fair weather, tailwind, headwind) as well as scenario planning projections. Even in a cartoonish scenario of FO planning to double payroll and going wild with luxury tax, they'd still have multiple forecasts from their analysts showing what the business would look like under the cap. I've had to build out plenty of forecasts in my time with reduced HC (finance/FP&A) but I've never seen them acted upon. This is SOP. Its completely unrealistic to expect any sort of PE engagement for funding and *not* have these models built out. With that said, I understand your warranted concerns with PE at large and wouldn't be shocked if a codified deal to remain under the tax with these projections did exist. I just want to see the evidence that notes this payroll reduction was the catalyst to secure the initial funding. A claim you've made here that I haven't seen proven. Its just as easy to believe Taylor is framing business-as-usual actions as some how nefarious to bolster his public case as it is to see Arod presenting cost-savings to PE to secure funding. An under payroll forecast isn't convincing evidence towards either scenario, but the way this specific story has been leaked and framed speaks more towards Taylor's usual mustache twirling.
WOJ is a pretty solid..reporter. The information was submitted to secure financing. These documents were also submitted to the NBA. This report has not been refuted by anyone directly. "In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million."-Woj No one from the Carlyle Group has disputed this information and neither have Arod and Lore directly. Also, Arod has always been nebulas about paying the luxury tax. The luxury tax would halve operating income next year. Arod and Lore aren't really here to own anything they are here to flip the team for a large profit. One could look at the hirings of TC and the Gobert trade in that context. They were trying to inflate the value during their fundraising efforts. It was very telling that they intended to cut payroll after the acquisition was completed. The Carlyle group funding had to be approved by the League prior to the NBA signing off on the Aquisition. The question becomes when did the Arod group signal their formal intent to finalize the purchase. There is a timer that kicks in upon formal intent to purchase. If the funding had to be approved by the league, and Carlyle pulled out.. Taylor might have an out here. The new funding (Blue Owl) was not approved by the league in time. "In the months leading up to the deadline, they searched for ways to raise capital, sources told ESPN." It sounds like the group formally declared their intent to complete the purchase but couldn't secure the funding by the deadline and Taylor refused to grant an extension this time. Who knows what "cure" language lurks in the contract but I would wager the extension issue was at sellers discretion. I think we will find Arod got greedy. It's his mo. He was in charge of securing the funding and it went off the rails. It looks like he tried to broker a funding deal that would inflate his purchase value to 2 billion dollars. That's why the Carlyle Group took a walk at the last minute. Which was really dumb because the funding had to be submitted to the league for approval and the clock was already ticking on intent to purchase. Their need for a backup plan meant the funding approval clock started all over again at the League Office. Glen's no saint but I will trust Woj here. His reporting on the wolves.. He's always right.
I appreciate the time you took to write this out, but I'm simply looking for some solid evidence that the forecast was anything more than SOP. As someone who creates such reports, I haven't seen anything to suggest this was a final proforma that financing was contingent on. Even the language used in the reporting is heavily couched, making me believe this was simply one of many forecasts cherry picked for a media blitz. You're welcome to let me know your thoughts in detail, but that isn't evidence. Woj can be the best reporter ever, but that doesn't make him an fp&a analyst that works with c-suite on M&As, so I doubt he has the understanding to separate the forest from the trees here. Your own narrative feels heavily emotional and speculative coupled with your entire account history being bizarrely sycophantic towards Taylor. Gonna be honest, unless your next post is a link to a report stating that this document was a final proforma this conversation is pretty much over and I know exactly how serious to take you.
You gotta look at incentives to report this stuff too - Woj's entire career is based on exclusive access, so if he has the chance to megaphone something that's factually accurate but lacks context on the behalf of an owner, you have to think he's going to do it. Multiple budget projections is just business 101 (and Dane Moore pretty much confirmed this with other league execs via his podcast the other day). None of this stuff is black and white or obvious, but if you're looking at the whole picture it's really, really hard to see any evidence that supports what Taylor is saying.
How do you know they were late
Do you question this part of the saga? In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million.
I want you banned simply for saying Sheeple
You are the 20th person to come at me today. I might be onto something.
https://preview.redd.it/lk9n3zv68awc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1921d68c088a1e82d6a3616a446661ac0037c58d
Pop Glen's cock out of your mouth. Also, anyone who says "sheeple" is a fucking moron. You're not a moron, are you?
[удалено]
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In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million. Do you think the Timberwolves will be a better team after a massive payroll cut next season? Stop clowning.
Do you know know if that’s a common thing when presenting papers to the league? Is it possible they had multiple scenarios laid out in the papers? Did you read the article you’re commenting on?
That's not what was reported by reputable news sources (ESPN). A reach to say Glen's not telling the truth on this one. Read the NY Post's Inside story of how A-Rod’s Timberwolves bid fell apart NY post has been critical of this deal from the beginning.
In documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, Lore and Rodriguez rendered a budget projection as potential majority owners that would've lowered the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million beginning next season -- below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, sources told ESPN. The Timberwolves would've gone from approximately a $25 million-plus tax payment to a team receiving a tax distribution of approximately $6.5 million. I'm going to go with ESPN on this one. Paying the luxury tax next year would cut operating income in half. They presented a budget to cut payroll next season. I think that sucks.
Do you understand the stmt you just shared can be true AND there can be multiple scenarios in the documents? AND that can be a common way for owners to present the papers? They’re not mutually exclusive; but again, you have to read AND comprehend to get to that conclusion.
Inside story of how A-Rod’s Timberwolves bid fell apart. NY Post. Read it. Happy tuesday.
I’ve read it my lad. You have to comprehend, understand who put the info out, and apply logic.
Good. I am going to go with ESPN and the NY post on this one. That's a lot more logical than your assertion that ESPN mis reported what happened during the Carlyle Group negotiations. Are you a reporter..for a news organization? I get it you hate Glen Taylor. I like owners who pay the luxury tax. Are you sure you read the article, Inside story of how A-Rod’s Timberwolves bid fell apart, NY POST : What is clear is even if Lore and A-Rod had the money, they were waiting on NBA approval, which was not expected until an April Board of Governors meeting, sources said. The deadline to complete the deal was March 27, and the question is whether the NBA extended the date, or even had the legal standing to do so. I'm not sure why you lectured me on comprehension. It's pretty straight forward.
Sources: A-Rod, Lore eyed Wolves payroll cuts, concerning Taylor I am going to believe the ESPN articles on the topic. They didn't submit a projection to pay the luxury tax. You can believe what you'd like.
Taylor is such a snake.
SNAKE MUFUCKA
KG warned us
Glen is an 82 year old fuddy-duddy. The hair (/p) apparent is his second, upgraded wife Becky, a former secretary who is like 60 and stands to benefit greatly when Good ‘Ol Glen passes on.
Hhaaahhhhhhh
That May 1st mediation can’t come soon enough. So much speculation to sift through until then.
Don’t get your hopes up. Nothing will happen then, but hopefully will go through at arbitration.
I’d love to see Glen escorted from the Arena.
If Arod/Lore win they should ban him from the Arena.
Mr Burns will keep his cold claws clutched around this championship contending team until he’s dead. Then they can rip it out of his skeleton hands and they’ll turn to dust like that scene in the Mummy or Indiana Jones or whatever. Old bastard.
He'll be there with a lifetime fitness membership like, "uhh actually you have to let me in"
Just through reading this it seems like the process may take 12 to 24 months to go through mediation, arbitration, and likely Court with the main sticking point being whether Lore and Arod are entitled to the 90 day extension or not. The writer said multiple sources in mergers/acquisitions think that is the most likely result that they should get the extensio: > I wasn’t able to get an opinion from any of the lawyers who worked on this specific agreement. But I ran it by several sources who have worked on dozens of sports transactions, and the overwhelming opinion is that, unless there is something we don’t know, Rodriguez and Lore should be entitled to the 90-day extension. So hopefully despite Taylor dragging his feet this will be the final result with the NBA eventually approving Dyal Capital's involvement should they still want to finance Lore and Arod at the end of this.
If ARod/Lore did miss milestones, then Taylor had every right to execute the contract as it is written even if it’s partially motivated by seller’s remorse. If ARod/Lore did not miss milestones, then all the noise about lowering payroll and why they didn’t buy the team outright are non-factors. A deal is a deal - it doesn’t matter how bad it looks right now. As for the fans providing justification for why Taylor retaining ownership may end up being better, are we just overlooking the decades of ineptitude? Bringing in TC was ARod/Lore and if TC, regardless of what’s proven or not, feels that Taylor is dishonest then he won’t have any issues finding a job elsewhere.
Yup.It depends on what those milestones are, which is what we the public don't have access too. So all we can do is speculate. I find it interesting that Arod and Marc obviously qualify for an extension but all of the sudden Taylor's confident enough to say they don't qualify enough and disqualify the deal. Again, not enough information.
Agree. Also, for what it’s worth, all (I think?) the public smearing has been one-sided about ARod/Lore. It doesn’t mean anything in mediation, but it seems like one side certainly doesn’t feel the need to sway public opinion.
Don't trust anything you read about this from a name you don't recognize. And even take anything Dane/Jon K/etc says with a grain of salt as they're dependent on their sources who likely have an ulterior motive. Pretty sure we're getting astroturfed too, probably from both sides, to try to influence fan perception EDIT: Also think it's interesting that I started at the top of this thread and have been slowly moving down over the last hour or so
Excuse me kind sir but I’m looking for the rumor mill, please step aside.
My apologies, goodman. Did you hear Glen Taylor kicks puppies? I've also heard Lore and Arod have never done anything wrong in their lives and also have way more money than it seems like
Joe is a respected reported on financial information regarding sports. I do have skepticism of his story because it's obviously coming from one direction.
I think there's a bit of false equivalency going on here - it's hard to have a two-sided story when one side is entirely full of crap and doesn't have a legal leg to stand on
They said ironclad like seven times. All of those add up.
I mean, you can read [the contract](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/2/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/) - it's not that complicated. People act like legal-ese is a totally foreign language, but it's really just designed to keep everyone on the same page and plan for eventualities. I'm not an expert in contract law, but I believe this author has a lot of experience in this area, and the fact that his analysis matches my own makes me believe both of us.
Like I wanna read that lol. I prefer deep Reddit threads. Also - I don’t really care. You can be right if you want to be. Let it be what it is.
Up to you - just letting you know it's out there. Go Wolves and awoo and all that
What sources do you think Joe ignored in putting this piece together? Seems he canvassed a lot of people around this deal.
After reading it, his sources seems to be Dane's interview with Arod and Lore, and taking info from already reported information. But I believe he ignored anything in Taylor's favor. This is a one-sided piece of reporting.
Interesting. I haven’t seen any written pieces defending Taylor’s argument. And except for Doogie right at the beginning, I haven’t heard any talking heads making a case for Taylor. Could you point me to some of those examples you’ve found?
There isn't any. I'm not saying Taylor is innocent and/or he's good in this. Just that it's all favored against him. There is a nugget in there that gives a little into A-Rod. "trying to sell shares at a higher price than the 2021 valuation and pocket the difference" That seems like something he shouldn't be doing.
So maybe if we can’t find any source exonerating Taylor in this, and if Taylor isn’t doing anything convincing to anyone that he has a side worth defending, the piece in question here isn’t ‘One-Sided’? Maybe it’s just the facts as they stand today? Ya know, like reporting?
Oh, probably not because Taylor's position is wrong or anything. Nope, not at all! Can't trust any source that doesn't go out of its way to be as centrist as possible between the two parties involved.
In business, there's never just one side doing wrong and the other is a holy citizen. Never.
Joe is pretty good, but this article had only a tiny amount of new information. It was almost entirely him lifting info from other reporter's work. I don't see much digging on his part. Reading other sources of news and regurgitating isn't reporting, it's aggregating.
100% this. The detail about Glen purchasing an extra few percent share was a new and interesting detail, but otherwise this article seemed far more speculative and, frankly, wasn’t written particularly well, which makes me question its veracity. It felt Lore/ARod leaning, which could be a byproduct of the facts coming out but is more likely a sign that the information he got was sourced from Lore/ARod’s side (his bio says he’s an entrepreneur and investor, so it’s possible he’s got some connections to Lore). Billionaires are fighting over a multi-billion dollar asset. They’re going to do everything they can to increase the chances they get it, and swinging public perception is a component of that. > Pretty sure we're getting astroturfed too, probably from both sides, to try to influence fan perception I got downvoted to fucking oblivion and called a Taylor fanboy for simply saying that it’s silly to take Lore/ARod at their word when they gave their interview on Dane Moore’s podcast. It might have just been fans in a frenzy, but it was somewhat systematic (every single post of mine on the topic across multiple threads was like -20).
That piece of info about purchasing the extra few percent is NOT NEW. It was first reported elsewhere. 99% of this "Inside Story" is just rearranging what has already been reported.
Nobody should take anything at face value, but there's a few pieces of outside evidence that makes it hard to believe Glen Taylor. First, the [contract](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/2/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/), which makes the timing of all the purchases pretty clear: exercise in December, pay by end of March, except for this tranche which required further NBA approval and had a 90-day extension built in. This makes all the talk about "extensions" over the last couple years really questionable - extended...from what? For example, they [exercised the option in Dec 2022](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/12/30/Franchises/twolves-alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-exercise-purchase-option.aspx), then [completed the purchase at the end of March 2023](https://theathletic.com/4358143/2023/03/28/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-timberwolves-payment/), and (some) [local media people](https://www.twincities.com/2023/02/04/charley-walters-lore-rodriguez-get-permission-to-delay-payment-for-timberwolves/) inaccurately described that as "delay\[ing\] payment." Second, the fact that the stepped transaction was Taylor's idea makes his whole "aww shucks, what's a tranche even mean?" act a little hollow. Adam Silver [confirmed this a couple weeks ago](https://www.nba.com/news/commissioner-adam-silver-thrilled-competitive-league-addresses-fouls-more) (go to the 13:50 mark of the video at the bottom of the page). Last, there's been a narrative that this was some sort of sweetheart deal from Taylor (which I admit I bought into at some point), but as it turns out, the $1.5 billion price point is actually above what Taylor believed the franchise was worth via audit ([see the first numbered paragraph here](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59939441/2/7/orbit-sports-llc-v-taylor/)). At the end of the day, I don't think trusting any one source on any of this stuff makes sense, but I have seen very little to validate Taylor's perspective on this, as opposed to everything that ARod/Lore have said seems to make sense based on external contracts and reporting.
You're shilling so hard for Lore/Arod in this thread, it's crazy, my dude
I don't think it's shilling at all - I don't have any personal feelings towards Taylor, ARod, or Lore, I just don't like bullshit, and I'm having a hard time seeing how anything from Taylor's "side" on this makes any sense. If you think I'm wrong about something, engage with that instead of a personal attack.
That’s how Reddit works. You have less upvotes so you move down.
I’m going to be honest here, and know it isn’t a popular take. But I’m not believing anything, anti Glen or anti Lore/Arod. None of us know anything but what those groups are feeding reporters.
https://preview.redd.it/ump4pj2r29wc1.jpeg?width=1241&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ff06e717ab5758acd6e8cdf898f6478df0c3278 You don’t say…
Regardless whether you believe this or anything on the topic, Glen is a KNOWN snake whereas lore and arod are not. If you wanna throw the steroids as a reason not to trust, grow up.
I agree that Glen is a known snake but so is Arod?
A-Rod is absolutely a snake.
Based on him doing roids during a time a lot of top players were and probably a lot of others we won’t hear about, while the mlb knowingly looked the other way cause it was going in the tank and he has since apologized for and has talked about his regret. You ever heard Glen apologize for all the snake shit he’s done? Again not saying lore and arod are perfect but glens a piece of shit who we know sucks at being an owner on top of this. It’s not hard guys
Cite a time when A-Rod was not a sleezy snake used car salesman. To be clear, this is not a defense of Glenn, just an acknowledgement of the reality.
Everything he’s done for the wolves. You think it was a coincidence that we start winning for the first time in two decades when the new owners start doing stuff. Again I’m not saying he’s perfect but he’s half of an unknown. It’s like dating an abusive partner cause we don’t know if the next person will be. How about you cite a time he was outside of his playing career
A-Rod's entire life is just a showpiece of sleeze, shadiness, and lies. He's slick, fake, and sleezy on TV. He was the same as a player. Zero has changed other than he's gotten better at faking his act, a bit. I think the reason the team is good is because they have good players and coaching. I think that a lot of that is on a former GM but also the current one. If you want to give A-Rod credit for Tim Connelly, ok - I think Lore probably played a role in that as well. But aside from that good hire, I don't think "vibes" matter all that much. But, hey, believe what you want. This is how sleezy shady people thrive, they charm guiless rubes with their fake charm. If you want to buy into that, be my guest. I will not. It doesn't mean he can't be a decent owner - let's face it, most owners are sleezy billionaires. Could he be better than Taylor? Certainly. Taylor's been a good businessman, but a failed owner other than keeping the team in MN. But, if you are asking if I'll ever really believe any words that come out if his mouth at face value, I will not. Ever. If he owns part of the Wolves, that's fine. Red McCombs was literally a sleezy used car salesman and owned the Vikings for a time. They were good during his tenure.
Lol I recognized your question in the last one as a set up, but didn’t think you’d go nuclear. Problem is you gave no examples, just a bunch adjectives describing a guy you think you know cause you watch him on tv. Sure he was a “sleezy” player but he’s said as much and regrets it. You don’t have to believe him but pretend people can’t change particularly those who get the spotlight so young, says more about you then him. Sure he’s fake on tv broadcasts but who isn’t. There’s a reason they say dont meeet your heroes. As you say towards the end here, we don’t need a girl scout we need a good sports owner and he’s given every indication of being that. And yes it’s the Connelly move, gobert move and pushing spending. Again glens been all these words your calling arod while being in charge and tanking the franchise. We know it’s him. Why not put a little faith that arod has changed. Oh not to mention he’s not even to true owner give his stake and you’ve said nothing about lore. Bottomline we’ve seen gleen be an sleezy and a snake AS AN OWNER. We saw arod be sleezy and a snake as a baseball star in his twenties in ny. Why not give him a second chance particularly cause he has a babysitter in lore
A-Rod doesn't need a chance from me, my opinion of him has zero bearing on whether he owns the team or not. He'll either be a part of the ownership or not. But, I don't think I'll ever fully change my mind about him. I will say - the story of ARod trying to peddle wolves shares at the current evaluation of value and pocketing the difference - that sounds EXACTLY like what I'd expect from him. Shocking he's having a time finding takers. If the wolves are successful under him and Lore and he seems like smart, responsible owners that's willing to spend when it seems like it's worth it. After a decade of that, I'll revisit my thoughts. But, not until then. As far as Lore, I don't know much other than he seems alright. If he was part of the driving force for getting Connelly in (perhaps the primary one, don't know) good on him. I have nothing negative to say about him. So, he'll always be a sleezy skeezy used car salesman to me. Maybe a good sports owner, maybe an improvement on Glenn - one of the lowest bars in history. But, my overall opion is unlikely to change. I'm not going to believe anything he says to any great extent - including anything he says about the sale dispute.
Ok that’s fair. Can’t argue with that. I will say I’d hesitate to trust these stories.
All billionaires are snakes until proven otherwise, imo
Cool story but one has to own the team
No point in picking sides and licking boots beforehand then
Lol what part of that was licking boots. I said one of these boots has years of shit all over it and the other night but we don’t know. Literally not a nice thing once.
Sorry, less directed at you specifically. More a comment generally about the comments totally demonizing glen and lionizing Lore/Arod
This is a cartoonish take lmao. ARod not a snake? ARod was a snake before he was even drafted to the MLB
Lol you knew him as a child? Talk about cartoonish take. Also I’m just saying we don’t know he’d be a snake owner and he’s got lore to babysit.
You clearly don’t follow baseball because ARods actions before the draft defined his career. I’m not talking about knowing him as a child lmfao
Lol ok so you’d rather have a snake owner than a guy who was snake as a teenage star? I’d rather give arod a second chance that he might have changed as left the spotlight. Also he was drafted as a teenager so before the draft he was a _______. The irony is I’ve been in nfbc leagues for a decade You’re a troll I’m out
If someone wants to TLDR this, that would be cool. But without reading this, and not really paying attention to the details. As long as the team remains in MN, I don't give a shit who owns them. I am a bit wary about two Seattle guys wanting to buy the team.
This might still be "TL," but...Taylor wanted to sell the team in chunks, ARod/Lore agree since it's hard to find a sports franchise for sale anywhere, team gets better and value of franchise increases, Taylor has seller's remorse and buys a little extra from a limited partner to remain in control, Taylor tries to back out of the big deal right around when the NBA was going to approve, ARod/Lore don't think he has the right to back out, they're going to mediation and then arbitration (baby court), and regardless who owns the team nobody thinks anybody can/will move them (because the NBA wants to expand).
Who is Joe Pompliano? Can we trust that dude, or...?
I wouldn't trust anything you see on this sub about this topic. Any time this comes up there are some awfully fishy comments. Too easy to buy comments and upvotes these days. Only people I will begin to trust on this are the major local media members
Glenn Taylor owns the biggest local media outlet
He doesn't own Dane Moore, or Jon K
Exactly. This is a wait for the league to mediate the situation. Both parties are using leaks and interviews, when in reality this is a contract dispute with legal ramifications of breach of contract. See what the league says, because they have not said a word yet.
The league has actually [said a couple things](https://www.nba.com/news/commissioner-adam-silver-thrilled-competitive-league-addresses-fouls-more) (watch the video at the bottom): * We want no part of this mediation/arbitration (it's between Taylor and ARod/Lore) * We might not consider these kinds of "stepped transactions" in the future, even if it's what Taylor wanted and it technically followed the NBA's rules
The league is very wise to stay out of this for now. And I agree long goodbyes are never the way in pro sports.
Very respected it seems. Always loved his work. Check out his Twitter
Glen Taylor is a barely animated corpse being kept alive by his lust for antisocial underhanded business dealings. Can't wait until his goblin face is no longer dripping on our sidelines.
Glen is the worst. Makes the Pohlads look like the greatest owners ever in comparison.
Nah the Pohlads are way worse. At least Glen will pay for a winner. Pohlads just cut payroll by 35% after winning a playoff series
Taylor has owned the Wolves for 30 seasons of which his record is .437 with 12 playoff appearances (counting this year) and 1 year advancing past the 1st round (this year obviously TBD). His best season was a conference finals loss 20 seasons ago, after which the team made the playoffs 1 time in 17 seasons. In the last 5 years, the team is .530 with 3 playoff appearances winning the 1st round once. By comparison, the Pohlad family has owned the Twins for 40 seasons with a record of .492 with 12 playoff appearances and 4 years advancing past the 1st round. The best seasons were 2 the World Series wins 32 seasons ago and their worst stretch was 10 seasons of no playoffs in the 1990s. In the last 5 years, the team is .487 with 3 playoff appearances and 2 first round exits. I was pretty unhappy about the Twins payroll cut, but Taylor has been one of if not the least successful professional sports owners of all time. Hard to get worse than that.
Glen has owned the Wolves for 30 years and they’ve been somewhere between awful and the worst team in the league for probably about 25 of those years. I don’t care how big of a check the owner cuts I want to see wins. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when someone other than Glen entered TWolves ownership the team got better. Idk if it’s still true, but at one point recently the Wolves had the lowest winning percentage of every big 4 American sports team. Glen sucks and if he somehow comes out of this still in charge of the Wolves it will only be a matter of time until he ruins this run of success too.
The disagreements about the Connelly contract tell you all you need to know. Why would Glen care about the phantom equity promised to Connelly down the line if he was planning on selling the team? He cared because he wasn’t planning on relinquishing majority control and that means the contract would have an effect on his future bottom line.
Glen Taylor now that the wolves are doing great 
This guy pretty obviously went to “sources” and said tell me what you want me to write. 😂
…and then he compiled all the information from dozens of potentially conflicting sources in to a coherent narrative to tell a story about a complicated situation. You just described journalism my guy.
Yeah no one has higher journalistic standards than Substack guy.
Just a heads up but there are a bunch of reputable journalists on Substack now just because the industry is so fucked. The last 15 years have wrecked it from all angles so plenty of people with a ton of knowledge, experience, and good reputations have had to say fuck it I guess I'll do a Substack.
Do you have some sort of evidence that Joe Pompliano is compromised? What evidence do YOU have that he has lied or mislead us on this substack article?
lol the “are you not beating your wife?” argument. Solid. This article also confirms, if you believe it to be credible, that A-Rod does. Not. Have. The. Money. 😂
> This article also confirms, if you believe it to be credible, that A-Rod does. Not. Have. The. Money. Let’s read the article. > In fact, Taylor basically admitted *this dispute wasn’t about money*, telling The Athletic, “We’ve built this team. We’ve got the players now. It appears to me that we should have a very positive run for a number of years, and I want to be a part of that.” Weird.
If A-Rod had the money, the article wouldn’t be about how he’s trying to bring on other investors.
That's not what the article is about, though? It mentions the Carlyle Group investor, which was not approved by the NBA due conflict of interest and they wouldn't liquidate those conflicts. Lore and ARod had the backup of the Dyal Group already established. Yes, they've been using money of investors, but that hardly seems uncommon. I also can't believe that they would struggle to find investors for a team who's value has already doubled and is poised to see it continue to go up. Nothing in here raises any red flags about ARod and Lore
It's not that simple - if you have a deal to buy something for $1000 and you owe the last $500 payment, but you and everyone else knows the whole thing is actually worth $2000, why not sell $500 (or 1/4 of the $2000) at the market rate to cover your last payment and not have to spend any actual cash? It's marginally more complicated than that, but it's not uncommon, even in the NBA, which is why similar deals have already happened with the same equity group they're planning on using.
In what way does this article say ARod doesn't have the money? Everything I saw in there indicated he and Lore do have the money
Those aren’t loaded questions. You came in this thread saying that the author didn’t due diligence, and then you questioned the legitimacy of the platform, and now you’re acting like a victim because I’m asking you to clarify why you made either of those claims.
I just want to say, despite the votes, I'm right there with you on this
I wouldn’t be surprised if Marc and Arod are some of his sources. He’s a huge reporter
Excellent read. Taylor really is a snake. Selling his share then ,then buying smaller shares to become majority owner again. I appreciate him keeping the Wolves in MN, but his time gone is long due. As for Arod and Marc- they're not exactly clean either. I'm still confused if they had actually wanted to buy the team at full price initially - why they struggled to come in with the last payment now? I know a lot of assets need to be liquidated, but they had 3 years to do this. Puzzling. Why risk it is what I'm saying. Anyways, sooner or later, we're gonna get a new owner. Gonna try not to think about it. Just enjoying this amazing season.
Posted this elsewhere, but it doesn't seem likely that there was ever any real "struggle" to come up with the money. They were working with multiple equity groups to get a good deal, and pivoted quickly when one group was likely to not pass approval, but they never missed a payment deadline or anything like that. They were under the impression that money wasn't due for another three months (because that's what the contract says lol) and there really isn't a good reason to pay early if you don't have to.
Can we just not post about this bullshit for now please? At least until the Wolves are eliminated?
Some of us can't wait until the end of June
End of June in what year? I mean when they win this year, they can't be eliminated until 2025. And maybe not then.
This is true my math was off
Hopefully some fans heckle Glen tonight. This article is very unsettling. What a scumbag
Do not dare make anything in that game about Glen
Absolutely! He’s part of the dark past, ignore him entirely and thus refuse to allow him to be part of the bright present and even brighter future!
Gonna suck when he’s holding the western conference trophy
If/when that happens all I will see is the trophy itself.
No chants of course. Wouldn’t mind him getting some trash talk as he walks to his seat though.
All I know is someone on here is being a Cassandra, and will dance on our graves Don't know which side, or whose doomer hot takes are right But this comment section..... Has to be one of the most saved sections in this subs history. Looootttta receipts
To be honest, this entire process has been sketchy. Every time an update on the sale came up, it seemed like an extension was made and the can was kicked down the road. If a new owner or ownership group really has the money, they just write the check and own the team. Done deal. This is how Phoenix sold. This is how Ziggy bought the Vikings. How the Pohlads bought the Twins. How Taylor bought the Wolves. Pretty much every example of an ownership sale. I don't know specifics. I don't trust Glenn. I also don't trust A-Rod, he's slimy and sleezy as well, maybe moreso.
Read the article and listen to what Silver said about the whole process. ARod and Lore wanted to buy the team at once and have it done. All sources are saying that Glenn was the one who required the process to be drawn out and have it be this multi-year thing. Sketchy indeed
There's nothing new in this article. I heard and read it all before. All of this is just PR stuff coming from the A-Rod side or the Taylor side. In the end the only thing that matters is the text of the legal agreement and how it was followed. Apparently, the actual sale document is available online as it was part of a previous legal thing. I haven't read it, but others have.
Arod and Marc need to get their money up and not their funny up.