Less than a month ago, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the $1.5 billion sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves to Marc Lore and former MLB baseball player Alex Rodriguez. The approval finalized what had been a drawn-out, litigious process between the pair and former owner Glen Taylor that began back in 2021. Hopefully, it puts an end to the drama that has surrounded the ownership change and detracted from the Wolves’ success on the court.
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Lore and A-Rod appeared on ESPN’s live The Hoop Collective podcast yesterday and spoke at length about why they expect their partnership to be a great one. Both men stressed that coming at this from different backgrounds is a strength of their partnership, as it allows them to make better decisions than if either were to work alone.
Lore has founded and sold multiple successful companies, so A-Rod called him the Michael Jordan of the partnership to his Scottie Pippen. Jordan and Pippen aren’t on the best of terms these days, but their time as teammates did yield six NBA championships, a number that I’m sure would sound good to Wolves fans.
“We’re so aligned with the way we look at things,” A-Rod said. “I would say that 99% of the things we agree on, and on 1% we’re off. I think we’re 100% on if somebody has real conviction, we usually go with them.”
Lore agreed, saying, “We have a shared set of values. We just know. It doesn’t matter who’s got the idea, we want to get to the right answer, so we’ll just keep debating it until we figure out what the right answer is. If you’re both not stubborn and don’t have an ego and just want the right answer, usually you’ll get to it.”
A-Rod mentioned how, throughout history, some of the strongest companies have had two founders working together. He didn’t give examples, so I will for him. Microsoft had Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and the eponymously named Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard and Ben & Jerry’s have all had great success.
Lore and A-Rod are coming in at a good time. NBA team valuations are spiking, so they’ve already probably made a ton on their investment. On top of that, the Wolves are fresh off back-to-back conference finals appearances for the first time in their history, and they have a transcendent young star in Anthony Edwards leading the way.
One of the first big moves Lore and A-Rod have presided over is locking Julius Randle in to a three-year, $100 million extension. We’ll see what other moves they have up their sleeves as they try to overtake the Thunder and bring Minnesota its first basketball championship since the Minneapolis Lakers last won it all in 1954.
