NYG wrote:shrink wrote:.
Woild new ownership pay the second apron?
We can’t say with 100% certainty that any owner would, but there is no talk whatsoever in Minnesota about the new owners trying to cut payroll for next season. It is a rare thing for the Timberwolves franchise to be this good - they will end with the second best record in franchise history. This has come from ownership’s demonstrated willingness to spend to add or keep talent, trading for Gobert on a max deal, extensions for Ant, Towns, McDaniels and Naz - even paying Tim Conley big bucks to come over from Denver. I doubt the first move with full ownership for ARod and Lore would be to reverse course after a rare successful season.
Moreover, most suspect that ARod and Lore will use this rare moment of goodwill to try to get some public financing to help build a new arena. MIN has the second oldest arena in the NBA (behind MSG), and it hurts the valuation of the team and the ability to produce revenues. For example, last year, with a playoff-bound team and an exciting, young Anthony Edwards, the Wolves produced $100 mil less in revenues than the AVERAGE NBA team! A non-repeater team at the second apron is roughly $20 mil over the lux, so they will pay $45 mil in luxury taxes (plus the $20 in salary). It is likely that if the new owners pay that additional $65, they will get more than that back in public financing for a new arena, and will generate at least NBA average revenues in the future plus increase the value of the franchise, if they want to sell future shares later.