Arron Afflalo’s attempt to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves looking stronger

The latest on Arron Afflalo’s attempt to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves is looking encouraging.

We’re roughly six weeks removed from the news that former NBA player Arron Afflalo was gathering a group to bid on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The latest news out of the Twin Cities is that Afflalo’s team has now engaged with the Raine Group, which is the firm that current Wolves owner Glen Taylor has retained to assist in vetting potential buyers.

And not only that, but there’s some additional context about Afflalo’s desire to purchase the Wolves that makes the prospects of him becoming an owner more attractive.

Arron Afflalo’s attempt to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves looking stronger

Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania have the latest reporting on Afflalo’s quest over at The Athletic (subscription required).

As we noted several weeks ago, Afflalo would be the face of this potential ownership group. At the time, the news was that venture capitalist Brock Berglund would be one of the primary backers on the money side. Now, we learn that entrepreneur Jay Bloom is a big piece of this particular bid.

The part of this news that is most intriguing is the ties that Afflalo has to the Wolves that weren’t necessarily reported back at the end of July.

The connection that somehow wasn’t made previously — at least by yours truly — was that Flip Saunders was Afflalo’s first coach in the NBA in Detroit. According to Krawczynski and Charania, Afflalo has “an affinity” for the Wolves franchise and it’s mainly because of his relationship with the Saunders family.

He also reportedly has a “strong relationship” with President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas — a key indicator that Afflalo’s group would not tinker with the basketball operations side of the front office.

The report also notes that the Afflalo group was interested in discussions with the Raine Group several weeks ago but was unable to engage due to the exclusive negotiating window that Daniel Straus’ group had, which ended back in August. While Straus’ group had met with Taylor face-to-face, that has not yet happened with Afflalo and his team.

The Athletic is also reporting that Straus has made an offer, but that there are no additional discussions scheduled between the two sides.

The previously unknown information about Afflalo’s relationship with both Ryan Saunders and Rosas is extremely promising, as well as the notes in the article regarding Afflalo’s desire to make the Timberwolves “pillars” in the Twin Cities community.

All of these things seem to check the boxes that Glen Taylor has created for suitors, so it would seem that Afflalo’s group has a realistic shot at moving forward in the process.