Timberwolves, Lynx ownership: Explaining the plan to transition teams to Marc

As the Minnesota Timberwolves enter the stretch run toward the NBA playoffs, their three-year ownership transition plan is reaching a culmination point as well.

The deadline for Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to complete their purchase of a majority of the shares of the Timberwolves and Lynx from Glen Taylor is at the end of March. Lore and Rodriguez remain on track to finalize the transaction, two sources involved with the plans told The Athletic on Saturday.

It has been an unconventional process, given the years-long succession plan that was put in place when Lore and Rodriguez initially joined the ownership group as minority investors in April 2021. That makes now a good time to revisit the arrangement to make it clear how this is all supposed to play out.

The plan

When Taylor agreed to sell the franchises to Lore and Rodriguez, it was significant not just because of the transfer of power that was going to take place, but also because the Wolves and Lynx owner had finally found a setup to his liking after more than a decade of looking for a successor. Taylor had conversations with a handful of prospective partners before Lore and Rodriguez came along, but he was never able to come to an agreement on the terms for a sale. Part of the reason for that was Taylor wanted to make it as certain as possible that a new group would not look to move from Minnesota.

Another reason that he never signed any papers before 2021 was that Taylor loves being the owner of the Wolves and Lynx. He did not want to hand over the keys to the franchise immediately, preferring a plan that would allow him to be the steward of the franchise for a few more years before he took a backseat. Many of the prospective buyers were eager to take over the franchise right away. The gradual succession plan appealed to Lore and Rodriguez because they could take their time learning the ropes from Taylor and acquainting themselves with a league that was unfamiliar to them. And it allowed them time to get their finances together to complete the $1.5 billion deal.

Even with the deal in place, there was an initial plan for Taylor to retain 20 percent ownership of the franchises.

The steps

There are three steps Lore and Rodriguez have to complete to fulfill their obligations and become majority owners. It started in 2021 with the purchase of the first 20 percent, making them full-fledged minority owners. They purchased another 20 percent last season and are due to buy 40 percent more by the end of this month, giving them 80 percent of the Timberwolves and Lynx.

The last two steps have followed identical processes. Both times, Lore and Rodriguez exercised their options to purchase a chunk of the teams in late December. Some have misconstrued the exercising of those options to mean that they had purchased the shares. That is inaccurate. Exercising the option merely opens a 90-day window for Lore and Rodriguez to purchase the stock.

With last year’s 20 percent purchase, Lore and Rodriguez…