NBA commissioner Adam Silver said recently the league may dust off long dormant expansion plans, igniting prospective cities and ownership groups. The prospect has league officials and current owners watching a drawn-out sales process of the Minnesota Timberwolves as an indicator for franchise value health.
After putting the Wolves on the market in both 2012 and 2015 only to back out each time, longtime owner Glen Taylor announced again in July 2020 that he was selling the team. It has not been a brisk process as firm offers have been tepid, sources said.
Taylor, 79, has gotten as far as a term sheet with a group led by Daniel Straus, a New Jersey-based health care magnate and former Memphis Grizzlies minority owner, but the sides haven't been able to finish the deal. They're still talking, sources said, and Straus remains the favorite to get the team, but Taylor's history of pulling the team off the market leaves doubt.