Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor reiterated that the franchise won’t be going anywhere after the potential purchase of the franchise by baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lore.
For starters, Rodriguez has already signed an agreement to keep the Wolves in Minneapolis, Taylor said in an interview with WCCO-830 AM radio.
“We have it in the contract, they have signed the contract to do that,” Taylor said.
While such agreements can be difficult to uphold, the NBA always has the final say in where its teams are located.
“The real agreement is with the NBA. The NBA will make the decision if somebody’s going to move or not move,” Taylor said. “The NBA will not approve of the Timberwolves moving from here to Seattle. It’s in the NBA’s interest that in Seattle, that a new team is formed. It’s an economic decision that’s in the interest of all of the owners.”
Taylor added that the Timberwolves’ new owners would have to pay about $2 billion in expansion fees, on top of the $1.5 billion to buy it, just to move the team. Something that would prove too costly even if the NBA were to unexpectedly give a move the green light.
“We’ve had the discussion within the owners group of what we’re going to do and what the future holds for those franchises,” Taylor said. “I’m not worried about it.”
