Arbitration ruling to determine who owns the Timberwolves and Lynx coming Friday or Monday

The question of who owns the Timberwolves and Lynx should be answered either Friday or Monday, according to sources close to the team.

Attorneys for current majority owner Glen Taylor and attorneys for minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez made their arguments in front of a three-member arbitration panel in November in Minneapolis. Those arguments came after months of legal posturing over Taylor’s claim in March of last year that the teams were “no longer for sale.”

The arbitration process was built into their purchase agreement, and the final decision will be binding and likely unappealable.

When Taylor canceled the sale via a press release, Lore and Rodriguez were trying to secure financing on a final call option of a 40% ownership stake from Taylor that would have given them majority ownership of both teams.

The central question the panel was set to answer was whether Taylor had the right to cancel the sale. When Lore and Rodriguez agreed to buy the team in 2021, the two sides agreed to a series of call options on tranches, or portions, of ownership.

The final call option was scheduled for Dec. 31, 2023. It needed to be finalized “not more than ninety [90] days” later, according to the purchase agreement. It was widely reported that Lore and Rodriguez lost funding from private equity firm Carlyle not long before those 90 days were up.

On March 27, 2024, Taylor released his statement that the Timberwolves were no longer for sale and that Lore and Rodriguez had missed the deadline.

Lore, a billionaire tech entrepreneur, and Rodriguez, a former baseball star-turned-investor, said they secured the necessary funding for the deal and submitted the paperwork to the NBA on time. They also noted the purchase agreement allowed for the 90-day deadline to be extended an additional 90 days if “NBA Approvals or other required approvals of any Governmental Entity have not yet been obtained.”

If Taylor prevails in arbitration, he will keep ownership. If the arbitrators rule in favor of Lore and Rodriguez, they likely will be given the right to a 90-day window in which to finish paying Taylor for control of the franchise. The NBA Board of Governors would have to approve the sale. Taylor is also owner of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Kathleen Blatz, Thomas Fraser and Joseph R. Slights III comprised the three-member arbitration panel. All have deep legal pedigrees.

Blatz was named an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1996 and was appointed chief justice by Gov. Arne Carlson in 1998. She was the first female chief justice in state history and served in that role until retiring in 2006.

Fraser served as a Hennepin County District Court judge from 2013-21 after being appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton. He also worked in the Solicitor General and Tort Claims divisions of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Slights III has a prestigious legal résumé out of Delaware, which is the epicenter of business incorporation and litigation in the United States. He had served as the vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery and as a Delaware Superior Court judge.

Fraser was the neutral arbitrator, Blatz was selected by Taylor and Slights III was selected by Lore and Rodriguez.

Lore and Rodriguez have said they’ve put more than $900 million into an escrow account and are ready to finalize their purchase, if the panel rules in their favor.