After announcing that he’s among the interested buyers for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett has expounded on his hopes to purchase the team from owner Glen Taylor.
In a separate post to social media, Garnett said it is his dream to own the team in the city he loves.
“My passion for the Minnesota Timberwolves to be a championship team is well known but I have a deeper affection for the city of Minneapolis,” wrote Garnett. “I once again want to see Minneapolis as the diverse and loving community that I know it is. No two people love the city more than myself and Glen Taylor and I look forward to trying to work with him to achieve my dream.”
Sports business news site Sportico reported that Taylor has retained The Raine Group to explore possible bidders for the franchise he bought for $88.5 million in 1994. The billionaire businessman and chairman of Taylor Corporation also owns the Minnesota Lynx and the Star Tribune.
It’s been reported for several years that Taylor was considering an exit from the Wolves, with the Star Tribune reporting in 2015 that he was actively looking to sell a minority stake in the team.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Garnett and a group of investors seeking the bid, while Charania’s colleague Jon Krawczynski getting word from Taylor that he wants the buyer to purchase the Timberwolves and Lynx, and that “everybody’s been told it has to stay in Minnesota.”
Glen Taylor says he thinks the Timberwolves and Lynx will remain under one house should a sale happen.
"The way I run it, it's all one thing. I would assume we would want to keep it that way and make it more efficient."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) July 21, 2020
Glen Taylor to @TheAthleticMIN : "Everybody’s been told it has to stay in Minnesota."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) July 21, 2020
“People have inquired who are interested, and very interested and have the money, but they want to move a team,” Taylor told The Athletic. “They are not a candidate. We’ve made that very clear. In those terms, nothing has changed. We got a good team here. We think we have a good future and we want to do anything we can to keep it that way.”
The Athletic says the asking price is thought to be around $1 billion.
Garnett is the best player in Timberwolves history and is the franchise’s all-time leader in nearly every statistical category.
