Minnesota Timberwolves News: Alex Rodriguez's Ownership Bid Rejected

Chaos has erupted in Minnesota, where the Timberwolves' majority owner, Glen Taylor, has announced he plans to keep the team after all. Taylor claimed that Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, the aspiring majority owners, did not finish buying controlling interest in the Timberwolves within the agreed-upon 90-day window, per a team statement.

"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. "The Timberwolves and [WNBA club the Minnesota] Lynx are no longer for sale."

Taylor will now keep 60 percent of the two teams. Rodriguez and Lore's minority stake will remain stalled out at 40 percent, which Lore and Rodriguez have already procured in two 20 percent installments. They had initially intended to buy the other 20 percent, thus swapping ownership into a 60/40 split in their favor with Taylor.

When prior backers the Carlyle Group opted to bow out of Lore and Rodriguez's team purchase bid late into the proceedings, they had reportedly gotten new support, from Dyal Capital Partners. That seems to have not been finalized in time to placate Taylor.

Rodriguez and Lore refuted Taylor's statement later today in their own press release via a rep, stating they had completed the purchase in a timely way, and fully expected their takeover as majority owners to go through — and that they still do. Per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the duo claims that Taylor is having "seller's remorse."

"We are disappointed with Glen Taylor's public statement today," Rodriguez and Lore wrote. "We have fulfilled our obligations, have all necessary funding and are fully committed to closing our purchase of the team as soon as the NBA completes its approval process.

"Glen Taylor's statement is an unfortunate case of seller's remorse that is short sighted and disruptive to the team and the fans during a historic winning season," the statement continued. Led by All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves are 50-22 so far and occupy the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. It's their first time winning 50 or more games since a Kevin Garnett-led squad went 58-24 and led the team to the Western Conference Finals 20 years ago, where Minnesota fell to the Hall of Famer-heavy Los Angeles Lakers.

Per Krawczynski in another piece, Lore and Rodriguez claim to have filed the proper materials to secure the final 20% needed in their purchase of a majority stake. It seems like mediation could be the next step.