Marc Stad Buying Timberwolves for $4.5 Billion as Marc Lore Cashes Out and A-Rod Sticks Around
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a new controlling owner, and this time it happened without a lawsuit, an arbitration hearing, or a public war of words. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported Thursday that Marc Lore is selling his majority stake in the Wolves and Lynx to limited partner Marc Stad at a $4.5 billion valuation.
Alex Rodriguez is staying on. Lore is keeping a minority piece. Stad’s wife, Elisa, will be named governor of the franchise.
The whole thing is quiet, clean, and about as far from the Glen Taylor circus as you can get.
Remember what it took to get Lore and Rodriguez here. They agreed to buy the team from Taylor in 2021 for $1.5 billion. Then Taylor tried to back out, called the deal off publicly, and dragged the whole mess into arbitration. It took until June 2025 for the sale to actually close. Four years of lawyers, headlines, and franchise limbo.
Fourteen months later, Lore is out.
The reason is not drama. Lore wants to focus on taking Wonder, his food delivery and restaurant venture, public. He tripled his money on the Wolves in about a year, which is a nice consolation prize.
The bigger story is A-Rod. He is staying as the No. 2 partner, buying more shares, and remaining the front-facing owner. That is the right call. Rodriguez has been visible with the team, engaged with players, and clearly loves the job. Losing him would have gutted the ownership narrative Minnesota has been building.
Stad is not a household name in basketball, but he already knows the franchise inside out as a limited partner. He built Diamond Peak Partners, has serious money, and by all accounts wants to spend it on winning. That matters. The Wolves are a legitimate contender in the West, and this is not the time to shift into penny-pinching mode.
This is also the second time in a month that an NBA franchise has been sold twice inside a year. The Lakers went from the Buss family to Mark Walter for a record valuation earlier this summer. Now the Wolves swap majority ownership for the second time since June 2025. NBA franchise values are rocketing so fast that even the buyers are flipping their stakes.
Compare this deal to the Lakers situation and the tone could not be more different. The Lakers sale came with reporting about how the Buss family felt pushed to the exit. The Taylor to Lore handoff took years of legal fighting. This Lore to Stad transaction wrapped up with everyone smiling for the camera and Rodriguez tweeting his blessing.
For Wolves fans, the concerns are fair. Stability matters. Anthony Edwards is entering the prime of his career and Minnesota needs an ownership group focused on the next five years, not on jockeying for control. Stad has said the right things about competing at the highest level, and Rodriguez staying visible gives the roster and the front office continuity.
Tim Connelly stays. Chris Finch stays. Ant stays. The uniforms look the same tomorrow as they did yesterday. That is the win here.
Sometimes a franchise sale is a warning sign. This one just looks like everyone getting what they wanted.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
