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NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves-Media Day
Let the public relations battle begin.
In the wake of current Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor saying the sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves to Alex Rodrigez and Marc Lore is off — leading to an increasingly personal fight to control the franchise — comes this from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
In the documents Woj got, it says A-Rod/Lore planned a severe roster payroll reduction that would have torn apart the core of one of the top teams in the West.
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.
Lore/Rodriguez and the Carlyle Group declined to comment.
There’s a lot of context here.
• This is the latest salvo in what will be a long and ugly battle for control of the team, with plenty of it being fought through public relations and in the press.
• Minnesota, at 55-25, is having its best season since the Kevin Garnett era, will finish in the top three in the West, and is the first team long-suffering Timberwolves fans can truly celebrate in a long time. This is a team stacked with stars: Anthony Edwards is breaking out and getting MVP ballot consideration, Rudy Gobert is on his way to a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, Karl-Anthony Towns is an All-Star, and there are good players around them like Mike Conley and Jaden McDaniels. Talking about breaking this team up just before the playoffs is particularly cruel to fans.
• Roster cuts are coming, regardless of who owns the team. How deep those cuts go and when they happen are the questions.
The Timberwolves are a team headed for a financial cliff, no matter who owns them. Next season new max contracts for Towns and Edwards kick in (and Edwards’ price tag goes up when he makes an All-NBA team,…
[ad_2]Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/current-timberwolves-owner-taylor-says-171826006.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-04-11 17:18:26
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