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Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and businessman Marc Lore's deal to become majority owners of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA's Minnesota Lynx has been nixed, current majority owner Glen Taylor confirmed in a statement shared on the team's official website Thursday (March 28).
Rodriguez, 48, and Lore, 52, had previously purchased 40% of ownership stakes in the two franchises for $600 million and were expected to control 80% as part of the new deal, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in December 2023. The deal, however, expired on Wednesday (March 27) after a 90-day period following the exercise notice issued by Rodriguez and Lore.
“I will continue to work with Marc, Alex and the rest of the ownership group to ensure our teams have the necessary resources to compete at the highest levels on and off the court,” Taylor said in the statement shared on Thursday. “The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”
Rodriguez is one of the most polarizing players in the history of baseball, having twice broken the record for the largest sports contract ever signed and also admitting to using banned performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 and 2003, which consequently resulted in a yearlong suspension in 2014, during his 22-year baseball career. The 48-year-old hit for a .295 average and recorded 696 home runs, 3,115 hits and 2,086 RBIs during stints with the Seattle Mariners (1994-2000), Texas Rangers (2001-03) and New York Yankees (2004-2013, 2015-16), winning three American League MVP awards (2003, 2005, 2007), the 2009 World Series, 10 Silver Slugger Awards and being named as an All-Star 14 times.