Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press
The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking for new owners.
Owner Glen Taylor told Jon Krawczynski Athletic that The Raine Group approached him with people interested in bidding for the team, and multiple options are currently being explored.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported that Kevin Garnett and a group of investors are one of the options to explore an offer.
Rob Perez @ @WorldWideWob
and there it is https://t.co/Sk1wdZ0smE
Taylor then commented on the sale report, saying that people seeking to relocate the team will not consider their offers, according to Krawczynski
Scott Soshnick Sportico.com first reported the possible sale.
The Raine Group previously worked with Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer during his purchase of the franchise in 2014.
Taylor, 79, bought the Timberwolves in 1995 for $ 88 million.
It is not known if the Minnesota Lynx from the WNBA, also owned by Taylor, is also for sale.
Soshnick informs that the sale is not due to any “financial difficulty” of the coronavirus pandemic with Taylor looking for deals of at least $ 1.2 billion, slightly below Forbes Valuated $ 1,375 in 2020, ranking 28th in the NBA ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans ($ 1.35 billion) and Memphis Grizzlies ($ 1.3 billion), respectively.
Shams Charania @ @ShamsCharania
For Garnett, this offer is personal because of his stature within the franchise. Garnett wants to buy the equipment and keep it in Minnesota, sources said. Glen Taylor told @JonKrawczynski that keeping the franchise on Minny is a requirement. https://t.co/zTPDteOPJy
The last two NBA teams sold, the Brooklyn Nets and the Houston Rockets, earned more than $ 2 billion. However, those clubs play in two of the top 10 media markets, while the Timberwolves are in the 15th largest market, by Sports Media Watch.
Minnesota made the playoffs eight times in Taylor’s first nine years as an owner, reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2004 with Garnett as the winning MVP that season. However, the club has had little success since then, earning a postseason spot in the 16 years that followed, a 2018 first-round loss to the Rockets.
That led to a significant drop in attendance with the Timberwolves averaging the fewest fans in 2020 (15,066) and the second-worst percentage of capacity (79.4 percent) ahead of the Detroit Pistons.
With recent acquisitions D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley joining Karl-Anthony Towns, Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie, the club has a young core that seems to grow under coach Ryan Saunders.
Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders, who coached the Wolves teams led by Garnett in the mid-1990s and early 2000s for the franchise’s longest-running career of sustained success.
Taylor appears to have multiple offers to consider and did not give schedule to close a deal.
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