[Krawczynski] Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore in serious talks to become the next owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves

[TheProdigy]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

The pool of buyers capable of purchasing a car is orders of magnitude higher than the pool of buyers that can purchase a professional sports franchise.

[shrink]

No mention that it was Lore/ARod that cleaned out the front office and the nonsense that was going on and hired Connelly who had been a huge part of this turnaround.

To be fair, Glen hired Rosas, who made the tricky pick to take Ant and added Jaden, and hired Finch, which is a big part of the team’s turnaround.

And Glen was the guy that kicked Rosas out for his poor behavior. We don’t know if he would have paid to hire Tim Connelly or not without ARod and Lore. I give Connelly, ARod and Lore more credit for the Gobert trade.

————————-

Fans constantly scapegoat Glen Taylor for every bad thing on the organization, and never give him any credit for the good. Granted, he has made some bad hires that have led to many poor seasons, and that’s on him (yet strangely made a great hire for the Lynx?). But as I’ve reviewed the performance of owners for the last fifteen years, the three things I want are:

1. Loyalty to the city - won’t move the team
2. Doesn’t interfere excessively in day-to-day decisions
3. Willing to pay the lux when he has a winning team.

Many teams haven’t had an owner that doesn’t check all three boxes. Glen has been extremely loyal to keeping the team here, even when he wanted to sell for years. He doesn’t interfere as far as I can tell - in fact, most of us wish he would have been quicker to pull the plug on some other GM’s. And Taylor has paid the lux four times already, which is more than you’d expect considering how many non-winning seasons we’ve had. If he’s trying to keep the team, he’s doing so knowing he will face big lux taxes, and he has the money to pay them without loans.

[Worm Guts]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

[TheProdigy]

No mention that it was Lore/ARod that cleaned out the front office and the nonsense that was going on and hired Connelly who had been a huge part of this turnaround.

To be fair, Glen hired Rosas, who made the tricky pick to take Ant and added Jaden, and hired Finch, which is a big part of the team’s turnaround.

And Glen was the guy that kicked Rosas out for his poor behavior. We don’t know if he would have paid to hire Tim Connelly or not without ARod and Lore. I give Connelly, ARod and Lore more credit for the Gobert trade.

————————-

Fans constantly scapegoat Glen Taylor for every bad thing on the organization, and never give him any credit for the good. Granted, he has made some bad hires that have led to many poor seasons, and that’s on him (yet strangely made a great hire for the Lynx?). But as I’ve reviewed the performance of owners for the last fifteen years, the three things I want are:

1. Loyalty to the city - won’t move the team
2. Doesn’t interfere excessively in day-to-day decisions
3. Willing to pay the lux when he has a winning team.

Many teams haven’t had an owner that doesn’t check all three boxes. Glen has been extremely loyal to keeping the team here, even when he wanted to sell for years. He doesn’t interfere as far as I can tell - in fact, most of us wish he would have been quicker to pull the plug on some other GM’s. And Taylor has paid the lux four times already, which is more than you’d expect considering how many non-winning seasons we’ve had.

Do you remember when Kahn had to sell off draft picks for cash so he could fire Rambis and hire a replacement? That's Glen Taylor in a nutshell.

[shrink]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

The pool of buyers capable of purchasing a car is orders of magnitude higher than the pool of buyers that can purchase a professional sports franchise.

True, but ARod and Lore aren’t doing Glen a favor to buy the franchise at a huge discount.

To me, this is about how you do business ethically. If buyers punked me around like that, I wouldn’t sell them the car.

[BlacJacMac]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

There was zero chance of that happening with Lore's group.

[Worm Guts]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

There was zero chance of that happening with Lore's group.

Maybe, but that limits who he can sell it too and means has to accept those who are willing to accept his terms.

[guest81]

No mention that it was Lore/ARod that cleaned out the front office and the nonsense that was going on and hired Connelly who had been a huge part of this turnaround.

To be fair, Glen hired Rosas, who made the tricky pick to take Ant and added Jaden, and hired Finch, which is a big part of the team’s turnaround.

And Glen was the guy that kicked Rosas out for his poor behavior. We don’t know if he would have paid to hire Tim Connelly or not without ARod and Lore. I give Connelly, ARod and Lore more credit for the Gobert trade.

————————-

Fans constantly scapegoat Glen Taylor for every bad thing on the organization, and never give him any credit for the good. Granted, he has made some bad hires that have led to many poor seasons, and that’s on him (yet strangely made a great hire for the Lynx?). But as I’ve reviewed the performance of owners for the last fifteen years, the three things I want are:

1. Loyalty to the city - won’t move the team
2. Doesn’t interfere excessively in day-to-day decisions
3. Willing to pay the lux when he has a winning team.

Many teams haven’t had an owner that doesn’t check all three boxes. Glen has been extremely loyal to keeping the team here, even when he wanted to sell for years. He doesn’t interfere as far as I can tell - in fact, most of us wish he would have been quicker to pull the plug on some other GM’s. And Taylor has paid the lux four times already, which is more than you’d expect considering how many non-winning seasons we’ve had. If he’s trying to keep the team, he’s doing so knowing he will face big lux taxes, and he has the money to pay them without loans.

It was Lore who kicked Rosas out. And no he doesn't get credit because he's kept the team here. I find it hard to believe there isn't any other rich guy who would keep the team here. Giving a billionaire credit for spending a tiny fraction of his net worth? Come on. Lastly, HE"S THE REASON THE WOLVES HAVE HAD SO MANY LOSING SEASONS!

[BlacJacMac]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

Not to mention they basically had the car on Turo for 2 years in an attempt to essentially buy the car for free...

[shrink]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

Yeah, I was out west hiking at the time of the second payment, so I never took the time to research it when I got back. I’ll add in they eventually paid.

Could ARod and Lore have afforded to buy the whole team up front? I thought the two year window was because they didn’t have the scratch, up front, not Taylor’a insistence on payment plan/mentorship.

[Guest84]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan, and you get your 20% more.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

It's risky business for sure and I can see both sides point if this is in fact the reason for this and not some other underlying issues. But if they mentioned it to you in the beginning that they'd need time to pay and you STILL agree...don't you think you should've considered that from the start?

Also, I thought there was something where the NBA didn't approve the original investor that Arod and Lore had so they then had to fine another? But then they found another reputable one and it was approved? I could be wrong.

[Worm Guts]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

Yeah, I was out west hiking at the time of the second payment, so I never took the time to research it when I got back. I’ll add in they eventually paid.

Could ARod and Lore have afforded to buy the whole team up front? I thought the two year window was because they didn’t have the scratch, up front, not Taylor’a insistence on payment plan/mentorship.

I don't know that Lore/Arod could have afforded the team without it, but we have definitely heard that Taylor wanted a mentorship situation, which is an unusual stipulation when selling a sports franchise. And that probably limited potential buyers Taylor had to choose from.

[Shaka_Zulu]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan, and you get your 20% more.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

What if the car is loudly honking saying set me on fire or crush me in the nearest junkyard if only remaining alternative is I go back to my old owner of 30 miserable years?

[shrink]

Read on Twitter

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Update

“ Over the last three years, Rodriguez and Lore purchased 40 percent of the team in two 20 percent installments. They were supposed to acquire the final 40 percent in early 2024 and Taylor was to keep 20 percent.”

However Taylor says they missed the deadline yesterday and has canceled the sale and voided their agreement this morning.

Taylor says he’s gonna run the team as majority owner and that they can keep their 37% they paid for so far.

Arod and Lore are going to file an appeal to the NBA and their legal representation.

Arod and Lore gonna sue Glen Taylor and fight for ownership of the team now

Can Arod and Lore’s lawyers beat Glen’s?

Probably not. Glen is the richest guy in MN and has tons of friends in business and politics.

Great post. Doogie has always been close to Glen, so I was curious if we would get more news when he spoke.

[wolves_89]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan, and you get your 20% more.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

It's risky business for sure and I can see both sides point if this is in fact the reason for this and not some other underlying issues. But if they mentioned it to you in the beginning that they'd need time to pay and you STILL agree...don't you think you should've considered that from the start?

Also, I thought there was something where the NBA didn't approve the original investor that Arod and Lore had so they then had to fine another? But then they found another reputable one and it was approved? I could be wrong.

The NBA had nothing to do with the original investor (Carlyle Group) backing out. Lore and A-Rod quickly found a new investor (Dyal Capital Partners) that has been involved in NBA ownership groups in the past, meaning the NBA would have no reservations about their involvement.

[shrink]

They did make the 2nd payment, so this analogy is a little misleading without that information. Also part of this is Taylor's insistence on payment plan/mentorship and not someone buying the franchise outright.

Yeah, I was out west hiking at the time of the second payment, so I never took the time to research it when I got back. I’ll add in they eventually paid.

Could ARod and Lore have afforded to buy the whole team up front? I thought the two year window was because they didn’t have the scratch, up front, not Taylor’a insistence on payment plan/mentorship.

I don't know that Lore/Arod could have afforded the team without it, but we have definitely heard that Taylor wanted a mentorship situation, which is an unusual stipulation when selling a sports franchise. And that probably limited potential buyers Taylor had to choose from.

Having to listen to Glen for a few years, and eat Becky’s lasagna, is a small price to pay to buy a franchise.

[shrink]

The NBA had nothing to do with the original investor (Carlyle Group) backing out.

Did we ever hear why they backed out?

[Worm Guts]

Yeah, I was out west hiking at the time of the second payment, so I never took the time to research it when I got back. I’ll add in they eventually paid.

Could ARod and Lore have afforded to buy the whole team up front? I thought the two year window was because they didn’t have the scratch, up front, not Taylor’a insistence on payment plan/mentorship.

I don't know that Lore/Arod could have afforded the team without it, but we have definitely heard that Taylor wanted a mentorship situation, which is an unusual stipulation when selling a sports franchise. And that probably limited potential buyers Taylor had to choose from.

Having to listen to Glen for a few years, is a small price to pay to buy a franchise.

I just think it's probably a little insulting to require someone making a billion purchase to be mentored.

[wolves_89]

The NBA had nothing to do with the original investor (Carlyle Group) backing out.

Did we ever hear why they backed out?

I never saw anything that discussed why they backed out, just that they did.

[F Saunders]

So say you’re selling your car. Two guys say they will buy it, but they can’t afford the full price today.

You offer them an installment plan, they give you 20% of the money, and let them drive it

When the time comes for the second payment of 20%, they don’t have that either. You give them another extension for a loan.

When the third payment comes for 40%, they still can’t afford it. The bank refuses to give them a loan, and they say they will get some other financing, but you have to wait again, and maybe you’ll get paid.

Still selling your car to these guys?

The pool of buyers capable of purchasing a car is orders of magnitude higher than the pool of buyers that can purchase a professional sports franchise.

True, but ARod and Lore aren’t doing Glen a favor to buy the franchise at a huge discount.

To me, this is about how you do business ethically. If buyers punked me around like that, I wouldn’t sell them the car.

I'll add that while driving the car, the buyers did nothing but take great care of the car and greatly improved its value and performance, while basically offering free rides in said car whenever I ask. So if we are looking at this ethically, I'm probably still working with them to get them the ownership.