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American businessman Marc Stad has completed a deal to become the controlling owner and largest shareholder of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx by buying the majority of co-owner Marc Lore's stake at a $4.5 billion valuation, sources told ESPN. Lore will retain a minority investment in the teams, while co-owner Alex Rodriguez has decided to increase his equity percentages, sources said. It's not yet known how much of both teams each would own after the sale is completed. Lore decided to take a step back from his co-owner and co-chairman role in order to focus on the IPO push for his food tech company, the Wonder Group, over the next calendar year, believing changing ownership seats with Stad gave the Timberwolves the best opportunity for continued success.
Stad's wife, Elisa Stad, will serve as the Timberwolves governor as Marc Stad continues as managing partner for Dragoneer. Rodriguez will continue to serve as alternate governor for the Timberwolves and governor of the Lynx under the new arrangement. Elisa Stad co-founded University of California, San Francisco's Stad Center for Pediatric Pain, Palliative & Integrative Medicine after a two-decade career building global consumer brands.
Some WNBA players and coaches have come out in support of transgender athletes, including Seattle Storm center Stefanie Dolson and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. "We need to protect trans kids," Reeve said Aug. 1. "To me, it's a human rights issue. Every kid has a right to sports."
Kendra Andrews: BREAKING: Napheesa Collier is signing a one-year $1.4 million super max contract with the Minnesota Lynx, sources tell ESPN. She’s the third player in the WNBA to sign a super max deal.
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The No. 1 pick on Monday will earn $500,000 in her first season, significantly higher than the $78,831 earned by Paige Bueckers, last year’s top pick. For the second year in a row, that pick belongs to the Dallas Wings. The No. 2 pick, heading to the Minnesota Lynx, will earn $466,913, and the No. 3 pick, going to the Seattle Storm, will get $436,016. All drafted players who end up making a team will earn more than any WNBA player did last year. The league’s minimum $270,000 salary, which second- and third-round picks would earn if they make a roster after training camp, is higher than last year’s maximum salary of $249,244.
Ramona Shelburne: Five-time All Star Kayla McBride is returning to the Minnesota Lynx on two-year, lower max salary, her agent @Ticha Penicheiro of @Priority Sports tells ESPN. In the biggest free agency of her career McBride chose to stay where she’s had the best success of her professional career. Last season McBride became the first player in WNBA history to make 100 or more 3-pointers in a single season.
Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett has agreed to reunite with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx in a new, all-encompassing role involving business, community and fan-engagement efforts and content development, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Garnett and the Timberwolves will also hold his much-awaited No. 21 jersey retirement ceremony in Minnesota over the next two seasons, sources said. Garnett had been distant from the Timberwolves' organization since his playing career ended in 2016 due to a fallout with ex-owner Glen Taylor, refusing to have his jersey retired, but built a rapport with new governors Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and the sides found common ground on a reunion.
Red Panda wasn't on the injured list for very long. The popular halftime performer is scheduled to make her NBA return on Tuesday night in Chicago when the Bulls host the Philadelphia 76ers. She broke her left wrist during a July 1 performance at the WNBA Commissioner's Cup final between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx.
When architect and designer Bill Baxley heard the new owners of the Timberwolves and Lynx wanted a new arena, he and his colleagues started discussing location. One Styrofoam model later, they had an idea: Build the arena kitty-corner from the teams’ current home, Target Center, on a block and a half of land near the Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue light-rail stop.
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A new WNBA champion was crowned with the Las Vegas Aces solidifying their dynasty era, but not before commissioner Cathy Engelbert was publicly called out by one of the league’s preeminent stars, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier. Less than a week later, Engelbert denied Collier’s characterization of their previously private conversation, specifically that Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark should be “grateful” for the opportunities the WNBA provides her. When Engelbert took the mic at the WNBA Finals to present the Aces with their third trophy in four years, her voice was drowned out by a stadium of nearly 20,000 booing. Now, owners from other leagues are weighing in on the state of negotiations between the WNBA and the players’ union. “If you think about sports, it works when the employees and stockholders are aligned,” Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky said during the Front Office Sports Asset Class summit Thursday. “The fans are our stockholders, and the players are in essence the employees. What you’re seeing now in the WNBA spilling into the public view is no bueno. It’s not a good idea.”
As Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore spent time in Minnesota in the years prior to taking ownership over of the Timberwolves this summer, one of the things the two heard often and loudly was to bring back "the trees." The new majority owners of the Wolves and WNBA's Lynx will do just that this season. The Timberwolves will bring back their iconic Black Trees Classic Edition, an alternate uniform worn from 1998 to 2008 (and donned often by Kevin Garnett) for 28 games this season: 21 at home and 7 on the road. They will debut against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 26.
"One of the things we've been obsessing over is fan experience in the arena and giving them the best in class," Rodriguez, co-chairperson of the Wolves and Lynx, told ESPN. "We polled the fans and very high on their poll was they wanted these jerseys that mean a great deal to them -- the 'Black Trees.' "And also we'll be having some more surprises in-arena and uniform stuff. But hearing the fans loud and clear is very important to us and we're trying to deliver exactly what they want."
The last time the franchise wore the black alternate jersey was during the 2018-19 season. "We've got some uniforms in our closet that fans love," said Mike Grahl, Timberwolves and Lynx chief marketing officer. "And I would say this particular one that we're bringing back is at the front of the fans' closets ... The fans continue to ask for this jersey. Anytime we do a uniform drop of any sort, there's one common word that gets echoed by all of our fans, and that word is 'trees.' "There's no other uniform in the NBA that's designed in that way. The character that it has and the uniqueness that it has, I think fans have significant energy for and they hold onto that in lore."