Report: Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore planned significant payroll cuts with Timberwolves

Though their bid to take over the Minnesota Timberwolves as majority owners has stalled, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez reportedly planned on a sizable retreat in roster payroll for the franchise — which left majority owner Glen Taylor concerned about the team's future success, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to financial projection documents, per the report, Lore and Rodriguez were planning to lower the Timberwolves’ payroll to $171 million starting next season. That’s below the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold, and it would have taken the team from paying about $25 million or more in the luxury tax to receiving about $6.5 million in a tax distribution.

Currently, the Timberwolves are on pace to have the fourth-highest payroll in the league next season at about $198 million. That payroll, which includes three max contract players, would be about $26 million over the luxury tax. While teams don’t have to surpass the luxury tax threshold each year — staying under that mark obviously allows teams to avoid financial penalties — it’s hard to see how the Timberwolves could keep their current roster in place at the mark that Lore and Rodriguez were trying to hit. Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert are both set to make at least $43 million next season, and Anthony Edwards will make more than $35 million.

The Timberwolves currently hold the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference standings. They’ve clinched a third straight playoff berth this season, which is something that hasn’t happened in decades. The team has not won a playoff series since 2004, either.

The sale of the Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx appeared to fall through last month after Taylor opted to halt the deal after years of negotiations and partial acquisitions. Lore and Rodriguez own 40% of the teams after they agreed to buy them for $1.5 billion in 2021. They were attempting to purchase another 40% of the team, which would have brought them to 80% and given them controlling ownership.

Taylor, though, claimed they missed a deadline in the deal. So he backed out, a decision that Rodriguez and Lore described as a "nuclear bomb" that took them by surprise. The duo has vowed to keep fighting the deal "with all means possible."

Lore and Rodriguez didn't comment to Wojnarowski for his report on Wednesday. Lore said month that they had "hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank" and that they were "ready to invest in the Wolves and bring home a championship," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Chris Hine.

The two sides are now in a mediation process to settle the matter, which is something that the league doesn’t anticipate getting involved in, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.

"This deal happened in the early days of the pandemic, when it was extraordinary circumstances, I think for everyone in our community," Silver said, via ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "I think lessons learned, too, in that as new situations evolve in the league as to what kind of transactions make sense. I think let's wait to see how this one works out.

"But it's certainly not ideal to have a stepped transaction like this. I mean, it met our rules from that standpoint. And it's what Glen Taylor wanted and it's what they were willing to agree to at the time. But I think once the dust clears on this deal, it may cause us to reassess what sort of transactions we should allow."