The Minnesota Timberwolves just wrapped up their best season in decades, earning the third seed in the West and making the franchise’s second-ever conference finals appearance. What’s more, the roster seems set to succeed for many years with Anthony Edwards emerging as a fully-blown superstar. Now a former New York City mayor wants to get in on the action.
On Thursday, The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reported Michael Bloomberg is going to join the ownership group headed by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez attempting to purchase majority control of the Timberwolves. Bloomberg was listed by Forbes as one of the 15 richest individuals in the world in April.
Lore and Rodriguez’s efforts to acquire control of the franchise has been fraught with issues over the last few months. Their group had an agreement with current owner Glen Taylor to gradually purchase stakes in the team in chunks, with the payout for the final chunk to take control away from Taylor coming this year. However, in late March, Taylor claimed the team was no longer for sale because Lore and Rodriguez missed the deadline to do so.
According to Charania, the two sides are currently in arbitration to settle the dispute and it could stretch throughout most of the summer.
Per the report, Bloomberg is a big name but is not expected to be providing significant capital to get the deal done. Lore and A-Rod have brought in a lot of deep pockets to finance the purchase of the team. However, Bloomberg’s wealth could end up important down the road as the Wolves aim to build off this season, which will require paying rather significant luxury tax penalties.
The key point, per Charania, is that adding Bloomberg means Lore and Rodriguez can complete the final $300 million payment to secure control of the franchise immediately as opposed to waiting until the end of next season, assuming the arbitration ends with a favorable ruling.
Either way, it seems Bloomberg might have a presence in Minnesota since the ownership group he’s joining already controls nearly 40% of the team. An unexpected face, to say the least.
