Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are far from giving up on their goal of owning the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources close to the situation told The Post on Thursday.
On April 10, Lore attended the evening reception at the NBA Board of Governors meeting at the invitation of the NBA and mingled with Commissioner Adam Silver, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor attended the meetings during the day and then passed on the reception so he and Lore did not cross paths, a source said.
Taylor pulled the rug on transferring the controlling stake in the team to Lore and A-Rod, which had been the plan for three years, after he alleged that they did not come up with money in time by a March 27 deadline to increase their stake from 36 to 76 percent.
They had agreed to buy the team in 2021 in a three-part process at what is now a relatively cheap $1.5 billion valuation.
The team has risen in value to roughly $2.5 billion.
The WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx are also involved in the ownership situation.
Lore and A-Rod say they delivered the $520 million on time to increase their stake and will prevail in court.
Taylor and Lore are preparing for a May 2 mediation session with a Minnesota judge, sources said.
sides. Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
If they do not reach a compromise then, by the terms of the contract, they would go to arbitration which would likely happen around July, and a judge would decide who is right.
There had been speculation that Lore, who was not active in raising money for the March 27 payment, and was not putting much money into this round of financing, was not that concerned about taking majority ownership.
Lore, who founded Diapers.com and famously sold his grocery start-up Jet.com to Walmart in 2016 for $3.3 billion, told Fox Business in February he spent 100 hours a week on his new Wonder food delivery business.
He has a much higher net worth than A-Rod, who was tasked with raising the money for the financing round.
By showing up to the Governors Meeting, Lore signaled that he was fully engaged in this legal fight, sources said.
Lore would be the controlling owner of the Timberwolves as opposed to his partner A-Rod.
Part of the argument Lore is making is that Taylor roughly a year ago bought four percent of the team from limited partners.
Now, Taylor owns 36.1 percent of the Timberwolves, and Lore and A-Rod 36 percent. Other investors own smaller stakes.
The theory goes that Taylor did this even though he was selling the team so when a legal fight happened about stopping Lore and A-Rod from increasing their stake, he would still have the largest equity position in the Timberwolves.
In other words, Lore and A-Rod believe he was plotting to stop this deal all along so they would not take control of the team regardless of whether they hit the deadline.
The NBA has chosen to publicly stay away from this fight as opposed to playing the referee.
The Timberwolves are set to play the Phoenix Suns this week in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Lore and Timberwolves spokespeople declined comment.