Anthony Edwards’ $205 Million News Puts Timberwolves On Financial Cliff, Cautions NBA Insider Amidst Ownership Crisis

The Minnesota Timberwolves ownership saga saw another twist a few days ago. Despite current owner Glenn Taylor announcing that the team is no longer up for sale, prospective new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore said that they will be the new owners of the 1.5 billion-dollar NBA franchise.

Amid this tug-of-war, the Timberwolves could face a challenging situation with the new contracts of a few key names coming up. In the podcast episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, the NBA insider Windhorst talked about how the Timberwolves are heading for a “financial cliff.”

Bringing up the ongoing ownership conundrum, the ESPN reporter said, “The owner is the owner of the team until he sells the team and the NBA says, that person is the new governor… You are not the owner until the NBA votes on it and the other owner signs the paperwork. The NBA didn’t approve because it didn’t get to that point and Glenn Taylor isn’t signing off.” Windhorst then points out why this is important and presents a delicate situation for the Timberwolves.

He added, “The reason this is fascinating, and we have talked about it repeatedly, the Timberwolves are headed for a financial cliff. When Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, new contracts come on. Mike Conley‘s contract renewal comes on and Karl Towns’ contract goes from max to super max, which is like a 12-13 million dollar increase. They are already into the second apron of spending for next year for a team that has spent I think into the tax just a couple of million dollars in the history of the organization. I think just once in the last 2o years.”

Ant-Man’s initial 4-year contract worth $44 million will come to an end this season. Following that, the rising superstar has agreed to a five-year contract worth $205 million, which will end in 2029. But Wolves face a financial challenge given their tax situation coupled with the free agency scenario at the franchise.

During the conversation, it was revealed the last time Wolves paid the tax was in 2020 with a payment of $497,000. They further added that Glen Taylor has paid tax four times in 2o years for a total of $25 million. But the current scenario could see them pay almost the double of it in one go.

As such, the announcement by Taylor to call off the deal for new ownership could be surprising, but A-Rod and Marc Lore aren’t giving up yet.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Lore confident despite Taylor pulling the team off the market

The ownership change of the side has been a topic of discussion over the last three years since Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore entered the deal. While the partial transactions went smoothly for 3 years, it came to a halt when Glen Taylor, the current owner, pulled out.

A day ago, Taylor publicly stated that the duo breached the deadline for the last installment and took the Wolves off the market. A statement from Taylor read, “Under terms of the purchase agreement, the closing was required to occur within 90 days following the exercise notice issued by Lore and Rodriguez. That 90-day period expired on March 27, 2024.”

Lore and Rodriguez are already minority owners of the Wolves and have been in negotiations to attain full ownership since 2021. They wanted to purchase 80 percent of the stake, making them majority owners. They currently hold around 40 percent stake and were in line to add another 40 when Taylor announced that the deadline had passed.

Responding to Taylor’s claims, Lore said, “We’re going to be the owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s just a matter of time, and how much pain Glen wants to put the fans, the players, the town and community through. It’s his choice. It didn’t have to be this way.”

Wolves’ fans will hope for a swift resolution to this saga, as this has taken attention away from a good campaign, in which they lie third in the Western Conference. But given the current situation, it seems their problems could extend beyond this season.

What do you make of the Wolves’ situation? Will the team overcome the ownership issue before this season ends? Let us know in the comments below.

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