Latest Timberwolves ownership news could lead to distractions during season

Fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming season. The team is coming off one of its best seasons in franchise history, and they will be looking to run things back and make a second consecutive appearance in the Western Conference Finals, in hopes of advancing even further this time around.

But in the meantime, the dispute over the Timberwolves' ownership continues. This whole saga began back in 2021, when majority owner and former Minnesota politician Glen Taylor agreed to sell both the Timberwolves and WNBA's Lynx to former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore.

The sale was a unique one wherein payments would be made incrementally, with Rodriguez and Lore eventually assuming full ownership of the team. In 2021, Taylor had agreed to make the sale at a price of $1.5 billion.

But in late March of this year, Taylor declared that the Timberwolves would no longer be for sale due to a violation in the financial process from Lore and Rodriguez's side. The two entrepreneurs disputed this claim, alleging that they had not missed any of their agreed-upon payments.

Glen Taylor has chosen to subpoena the NBA

Since then, Taylor and his legal team have issued a subpoena to the NBA seeking communications and information, according to Sportico. This is notable because it could cause "disclosure of league communications regarding the Timberwolves that the league would prefer to keep confidential."

A mediation session between the two ownership parties already occurred a few months ago, with no resolution reached. Now, they will take part in an arbitration hearing set for November, which will be the final step in determining who comes away as the Timberwolves' owner.

As for the NBA's role in this entire dispute, they continue to stay out of it. Adam Silver has said there is "no role for the league" in the mediation or arbitration processes. But interestingly enough, the NBA still has the final word in this matter, as the league office approves ownership for all franchises.

With the season coming up in less than six weeks, this will continue to be a big matter that will have the potential to be distracting for members of the Timberwolves' roster and coaching staff. But regardless of the buildup to arbitration and the outcome, the team will do best to simply focus on themselves and worry about their relationships with ownership later.