New Timberwolves owners Marc Lore, Alex Rodriguez talk of trials they endured

LAS VEGAS – As most of a nearly yearlong arbitration process against Glen Taylor played out, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez didn’t comment publicly on the process that determined the future ownership of the Timberwolves and Lynx.

Both still attended games and didn’t shy away from fans seeing them at home and on the road, but when it came to what fans heard from them, it was not much, beyond expressing their initial disbelief and anger over Taylor, who owns the Minnesota Star Tribune, attempting to cancel the sale in March 2024.

Now that Lore and Rodriguez are controlling owners, they have been candid of late on how much that process took a toll on them personally, and how their partnership helped both navigate a difficult stretch over the past 16 months. Lore said the process felt “lonely” at times, and he was glad Rodriguez was there with him.

“I don’t know how I would have survived the last 18 months without Alex,” he said. “It was a really tough period. Now hopefully, great times to come.”

Their comments to the Minnesota Star Tribune last month and this weekend at Summer League in Las Vegas underscored that Lore and Rodriguez will be running the Wolves and Lynx as co-owners. Even though Lore is officially the governor of the Wolves and Rodriguez the official governor of the Lynx, Lore said that was just a piece of paper and that they will run each team as co-owners.

Now that it’s over, they also haven’t been shy about saying just how tough the arbitration process was. Even though they prevailed in the legal battle for the franchise, victory came with no elated feeling of accomplishment, Lore said.

“If I’m being really honest, it’s still painful a little bit,” Lore said. “There’s not this euphoria, like, ‘Yeah, we’re the owners. Let’s go.’ That’ll come. We got beat up pretty good the last 18 months, and it’s not something you immediately recover from overnight.

“If you ever had a traumatic experience, it just takes time to heal. Just a healing period, and I know it’s going to hit us at some point and we feel healed and ready to go. It’s not something that’s stopping us from doing what we need to do, but the feeling isn’t this complete break. We have to heal a little bit.”

Rodriguez said the process was “probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do professionally.” He said there were nights he felt “depressed” and Lore would help get him back to feeling normal, or as close to it as possible, and vice versa.

“We did everything by the book, and we thought we’re in a position to take over, and a bomb went off and the rest is history,” Rodriguez said. “… Maybe if I was alone, I might’ve tapped out. It was that difficult. It was awful. I hate to bring up the past, we’re looking forward and about the future, but we have to answer that question sincerely.”

The duo has spent the past few weeks answering questions about their vision for the franchise, what they’d like out of a new arena and pitching changes to the current one, Target Center. For instance, Lore and Rodriguez would like to install theater-style lighting akin to what the Lakers and Knicks have.

In their times at Target Center, Lore and Rodriguez said they have grown an appreciation for the passion Wolves fans have, how they appreciate grit and toughness from their players and how emotional and loud the crowds can get. That’s similar to how they act at games, too.

“We’re here to win,” Rodriguez said. “We’re here to give it our very, very best, our hearts, our mind, our soul, our spirits, our passion. … We’re fans of our fans. We’re just as passionate. We hurt when they hurt. We get excited like 10-year-olds when the game is going on.”

But Rodriguez said, when the games are over and the emotion has faded, they can lock in and make decisions in the best long-term interest of the team. And they can make those decisions together without much trouble.

“Removing the ego, I’ve seen a lot of organizations last 30 years where egos get in the way of a plan,” Rodriguez said. “That’s where I think him, and I work really well, and that’s where, if I’m out of control, he’ll hold me down, and vice versa. Marc had a great line about, ‘It gets lonely if you do this all by yourself.’ Like, I don’t have all the answers. … Marc doesn’t either, but together, we can be better than one.”