Alex Rodriguez Purchases the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves

Jordan Gasson
Sports Business Writer

Alex Rodriguez, known for his time as a professional baseball player, has reached an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. The deal also includes ownership of the Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA team in Minneapolis, as both are currently owned by Glen Taylor. Rodriguez was known for his playing career with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and New York Yankees, earning MVP honors three times, will be joined in the next phase of his life by billionaire Marc Lore.

The duo are reported to be spending $1.5 billion on the deal, which will go through in 2023. Taylor will be in control of the teams until then and will reportedly stay on as a minority owner once Rodriguez and Lore take over the majority control. Taylor bought the Timberwolves for $88 million in 1994 and the team has not had much success during his tenure. He announced he was searching for a buyer in July 2020, and after having contact with a few potential buyers the deal with Rodriguez and Lore was picked this month. The Lynx, on the other hand, have seen major success under Taylor’s ownership, winning four championships.

Rodriguez and Lore had previously been involved as part of a group that looked to buy the New York Mets, before Steven Cohen was eventually picked as the team’s new owner. While the ties between New York baseball and Rodriguez were rather apparent at the time, due to his playing career on the Yankees, his interest in buying the Timberwolves seems to have come as much more of a surprise.

As soon as the deal was announced, rumors began to swirl about the intentions of the new owners. It was rumored that they may have their sights set on moving the club to Seattle, a city which has been tied to receiving a new professional basketball team almost as soon as the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008. The time Rodriguez spent in Seattle with the Mariners has been used as evidence that the ownership group has ties to the city, however outside of this connection the link seems to be weak.

One reason the move most likely will not happen is the money involved. The NBA receives a large fee from allowing an expansion team into the league, a figure that has been estimated at $2 billion. This gives the other owners in the league an incentive to block any relocation to Seattle, and instead wait for a group to purchase the expansion slot. On top of that, Taylor still has control over the team for two years, so the landscape of the league is sure to change quite a bit in that time and could potentially make any talk of a move a moot point.

Taylor and Lore have both also said that there is no intent in moving the franchise in 2023 when the deal goes through, with Taylor saying that there will be a clause in the final contract that excludes the ability to move the team. So, for now, while there could be major change on the horizon for the Timberwolves, their future in Minnesota would seem to be safe.

Contact Jordan at gassonjo@shu.edu