Glen Taylor has subpoenaed the NBA in the fight in progress on ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, a rare move that could potentially expose the league’s private communications and financial information to a more public audience.
Taylor, the current majority owner of the Timberwolves, is locked in a legal battle with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez over the NBA franchise. Lore and Rodriguez had reached a purchase agreement to buy the team from Taylor in stages for about $1.5 billion, but the deal collapsed earlier this year, just before they could close the takeover. Taylor claims they breached the agreement and the transaction is void; Lore and Rodriguez claim there was no breach and the deal should go through.
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Four months ago, a contract mediation session failed to reach a resolution, and the two sides are now headed to binding arbitration in November. Often used by professional leagues to keep cases out of the public eye, arbitration is a dispute-resolution process conducted privately and outside the court system, where records are typically public and accessible to the media. As part of that process, Taylor’s legal team issued a subpoena to the league a few months ago seeking communications and information, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private.
A representative for Taylor declined to comment. A representative for the NBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The league has publicly distanced itself from the Timberwolves’ situation. Asked about the legal dispute that followed the NBA’s Board of Governors meetings in April, Commissioner Adam Silver said “The league has no role to play” in the pre-established mediation and arbitration process, and the dispute “will be resolved independently of the league office.”
He reiterated that position this week. “The league offices are putting the pencils on the table,” he told reporters. “Depending on the outcome, only then will the league move forward with the ownership selection process.”
Subpoenas are orders to provide sworn testimony in person or through written submissions, or to produce copies of or inspect certain documents (including emails, text messages, and social media messages). Subpoenas issued in arbitration are more likely to be challenged than those issued in litigation because arbitrations are not court proceedings.
The NBA is not a party to the arbitration itself, but the league has a direct interest in the outcome of the arbitration since the Timberwolves are an NBA franchise. The NBA Board of Governors approves the ownership of the franchise, meaning the league will have final say over the ownership of the Timberwolves. Like the other 29 NBA franchises, Minnesota contractually agrees to NBA rules specified in the league’s constitution, bylaws and other documents. The NBA may not object to a role in an arbitration in which the league has a direct interest.
It’s rare for a major professional league to be subpoenaed in a legal proceeding like this — though almost everything about the Timberwolves sale saga is anomalous — and there are plenty of reasons why this might not be a desirable outcome.
The risk for the NBA with a subpoena is that it could force the league to disclose communications regarding the Timberwolves that the league would prefer to keep confidential. The NBA could also be concerned about ownership discussions in general, and revenues and contracts could be subject to disclosure in a subpoena. While the Timberwolves arbitration is supposed to be confidential, there have already been media leaks about it.
Shortly after Taylor announced the sale was off earlier this year, Lore and Rodriguez said they were on hold The NBA’s agreement was secured by a financial commitment from its backers, a status they said should have triggered an automatic 90-day extension under the terms of the purchase agreement.
Taylor has a different interpretation of the contractual language. He said that while buyers could have been granted a “limited extension” in special circumstances, those circumstances did not arise.
As the landlord saga unfolded, Lore and Rodriguez continued to strengthen their financial position. In June, billionaire Mike Bloomberg joined their group. Sportico It was reported at the time that the group intended to put all the money needed for its final two payments, more than $900 million in total, into escrow ahead of arbitration.
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