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New MN Timberwolves Owners Fire Dozens of Employees
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- New MN Timberwolves Owners Fire Dozens of Employees
A few months ago the Minnesota Timberwolves saw a change of ownership approved by fellow NBA owners. There have been plenty of questions regarding the intentions and follow through for Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez when it comes to the basketball team's finances.
Tim Connelly's roster construction has the team dealing with luxury tax implications . In part, that's why he opted to trade Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks prior to last season.
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Beyond just the basketball court, the Timberwolves have a whole heap of internal staff. Lore and Rodriguez didn't just buy the Timberwolves either. They have the entirety of the Minnesota Lynx to deal oversee as well. On Wednesday there were sweeping changes.
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Business staff sees cuts by Minnesota Timberwolves
On Wednesday the Minnesota Timberwolves laid off 40 of their internal business employees. The Sports Businss Journal reports that accounts for roughly 10% of the headcount.
New T'Wolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez laid off roughly 40 employees today in what sources called an "operational restructuring" following about a seven-week assessment period.
The layoffs were from non-basketball departments, with sources saying staff was let go from business operations spanning human resources, marketing, sales and creative. The moves did not impact dedicated staff members from the WNBA's Lynx — also owned by Lore and Rodriguez — but did affect under 10% of the full and part-time personnel who cross over between the T-Wolves, Lynx and G-League Iowa Wolves.
Talking with internal sources, the news came as a shock and largely out of nowhere. New ownership has been in place since June, and rather than make changes out of the gate, things came as a surprise on Wednesday. At this point it is unknown if new people, potentially tied to or selected by new ownership, will be brought in.
Sports Business Journal estimated the full-time staff supporting the Timberwolves and Lynx was somewhere around 220 employees prior to the layoffs. The NBA average is reportedly around 200 employees.
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There has been no comment or public response from either Lore or Rodriguez. Whether the moves were financial in nature or not, it's impossible to ignore that the NBA team is a a repeat taxpayer and could be looking at a second-apron penalty of $91 million this season.
Related: MN Timberwolves Sign Familiar Guard for Final Roster Spot
Although public perception of Glen Taylor was not welcomed, sources have said there has been trepidation about the transition to Lore and Rodriguez for a while. Something like this wasn't ever going to be unbelievable, and multiple high-ranking executives had previously left on their own accord since the ownership changes.
It will be interesting to see what the messaging and next steps internally are from the organizations new leaders.
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