The Minnesota Timberwolves appear to have a pair of new minority owners.
According to a report from The Associated Press’ Jon Krawczynski, Wolves owner Glen Taylor has agreed to sell two small shares of the Timberwolves and Lynx.
Glen Taylor's selling of minority shares: Meyer Orbach at about 9.5 percent,
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) June 27, 2016
Shanghai investor Lizhang Jiang and New Jersey real estate developer Meyer Orbach will become minority owners of the team. Orbach is expected to own about 9.5 percent of the organization, while Jiang will become the first Chinese owner in the NBA at about five percent.
The Chinese portion was around 5 percent. So they were small portions, but bring significant cash infusion that solidifies Taylor long-term
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) June 27, 2016
The Star Tribune notes that Jiang, 35, already has a well-documented history of professional sports franchise ownership. He founded the Chinese marketing company Double-Edge Sports and earlier this year completed the purchase of the Spanish soccer club Granada CF.
Last year, Taylor was in negotiations to sell about 30 percent of the Wolves to Steve Kaplan – in deal that would have called for Kaplan to assume majority control of the team in the future, but that deal fell apart.
The additional investors will bring a significant cash infusion to the franchise, which has an estimated value of about $1 billion.
However, Taylor’s decision to hire Tom Thibodeau as the team president and head coach and Scott Layden as the general manager signals that he’s all in on the Wolves and plans to remain in charge for awhile.
The Wolves have missed the playoffs for 12 straight years, but there is rejuvenated excitement around the team with it’s young roster anchored by Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine.
