Timberwolves’ $72 Million Star Duo Deemed Trade Bait Under New Owners

The sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves has left the franchise in limbo where anything may happen in the next calendar year, including trading away stars Karl Anthony-Towns and Jaden McDaniels.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on April 10 that prospective majority purchasers of the team, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lore, submitted a budget projection that would have lowered the Timberwolves’ payroll to $171 million — roughly a $25 million cut from their projected 2024-25 payroll to keep the team under the luxury tax.

“It’d be about a $25 million reduction in the payroll of this Timberwolves team, which would ultimately mean you’re going to trade one of their significant players. They’ll have three max players on their roster next year, so potentially that’s a Karl-Anthony Towns, a Jaden McDaniels,” Wojranowski said on NBA Countdown. “That was among the concerns that [majority owner] Glen Taylor took into consideration when he voided that deal.”

Towns is projected to garner $49.3 million in the first year of his supermax contract he signed in 2022, while McDaniels, who received a five-year extension in October, is poised to earn $22.6 million next season, according to Hoops Hype. They combine for nearly $72 million of the Timberwolves’ payroll next season.

Wojnarowski’s report comes from Taylor’s camp, whose separate accounts of the dispute on the sale of the team have been denied by Rodriguez and Lore.

Pioneer Press reporter Jace Frederick reported Rodriguez and Lore have not responded claims of a projected slash to the team’s payroll, but they have indicated they’re willing to go above the luxury tax — a must for any team that hopes to compete in the NBA.

“That doesn’t guarantee that was Rodriguez and Lore’s plan to get below that line,” Frederick wrote on the prospects of a Towns trade. “But it at least suggests it was one potential route considered for the upcoming offseason. The two had previously suggested a willingness to go into the tax.”

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Timberwolves Owner Glen Taylor Did Not Want Rudy Gobert Trade, Alex Rodriguez Says

While the ESPN report argues that Rodriguez and Lore have been spendthrift with their purchase of the team, the duo have shown signs of being behind two of the biggest moves that have pushed the franchise to the top of the Western Conference.

According to The Athletic, Rodriguez and Lore pushed for the Timberwolves to hire president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who orchestrated the Rudy Gobert trade. Meanwhile, Rodriguez claims Taylor was against both moves.

“[Glen] didn’t agree with [the Gobert trade],” Rodriguez said on “The Dane Moore NBA Podcast. “He warned us against it. He didn’t want to do the deal. He let us do it, so credit to him, he didn’t get in the way.

“His quote to Mark and I was, ‘Why are you wasting your time?'” Rodriguez said of hiring Connelly. “People like Tim Connelly do not come here. Okay? We said ‘Let us take a crack at it.’ Mark and I went to work on it. Three months later, we’re having a press conference at a practice facility.”

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NBA Cracks Down on Timberwolves Ownership Drama

While the two days following the fall through of the sale of the Timberwolves was a firefight between Taylor and the Rodriguez and Lore camp, the NBA has since put a muzzle on the dispute.

Wojranowski reported that an NBA memo instructed both sides to refrain from public comment on the matter.

So while the early rumors from both sides were either stoked or smothered by the opposition, any sourced information leaked afterward will linger as the two sides enter arbitration over the terms of the team’s sale, which is expected to be a long process to span several months.

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