Alex Rodriguez may not have the funds to put together a championship NBA team, according to a source close to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor believes he saved the team by taking it away from Marc Rohr and Alex Rodriguez last week, a person familiar with the current ownership told the Post.
Lore and A-Rod struggled to raise funds by the March 27 deadline to take their stake in the team from 40% to 80% at a $1.5 billion valuation.
The buyers said they raised the money just in time, but Taylor said the deadline had passed and he had ended his option to increase his stake. The dispute appears to be headed for arbitration.
Nevertheless, A-Rod was in charge of fundraising and pushed this through to the last moment, The Post exclusively reported last week.
If Roar and A-Rod finally buy the team, there are concerns that they won’t be able to pay the luxury tax to keep their young stars after this season.
“How can you run a team if you don’t have the money to make a deal?” a person familiar with the current ownership said of their thinking.
The Timberwolves are expected to break even this year and could earn between $5 million and $10 million if they make the playoffs, a person familiar with the finances said.
Next season, the team, which enters Monday’s game with a 51-23 record, will increase its annual salary from $163 million to a guaranteed $185 million. As a result, the Timberwolves will be fined approximately $24 million over the luxury tax. The January report said:.
Without a trade, the Timberwolves could easily lose $40 million next season, the person said.
That is, unless the team releases Karl-Anthony Towns, who makes $49 million a year, or Jaden McDaniel, who makes $22 million a year.
Sources speculate that the team won’t move stars Anthony Edwards or Rudy Gobert after trading for five players and five draft picks.
Taylor believes he is in a better position to unite this young, winning team.
Lohr and A-Rod have maintained in recent months that they had a direct role in the 2022 hiring of team president Tim Connelly from the Denver Nuggets, who built this group.
They also take credit for the Gobert trade, which looks decent at the moment.
Since Taylor purchased the team in 1994, the Timberwolves have only reached the Western Conference Finals once and have never advanced to the Championship Series.
Lore, who now has far more money than A-Rod, is focused on keeping his gourmet food delivery company Wonder running.
He has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in money-losing startups in recent months, We just completed a $700 million funding round.and officials said they believe Wonder is worth $30 billion.
Rohr didn’t invest much in the Timberwolves’ latest round of funding after putting in most of his money from 2021 to 2023, when he and A-Rod built up a nearly 40% stake.
This final stage, with a March 27 deadline, was supposed to reach 80%.
Lore told the NBA in 2021 that he was worth $4 billion, and much of that has to do with Wonder.
The NBA has a policy of not getting involved in ownership disputes and has not taken a stance on the Timberwolves’ ownership jump ball.
A spokesperson for Lore and A-Rod said, “We do not comment on these unsubstantiated claims.”
