There goes another NBA team

Marc Lore sells the controlling stake in the Timberwolves three years after getting in. The flipping will continue until morale improves.

Good morning. Let's basketball.

On Friday, I joked that it appeared we'd made it a whole week without an NBA franchise being sold under duress. Hours later, news broke that Marc Lore was selling his controlling stake in the Timberwolves and Lynx to co-owner Marc Shad. So it goes.

This sale doesn't appear to involved federal investigations or fire sales, for what it's worth. But Lore and business partner Alex Rodriguez did assume control of the franchises just 14 months ago after initially agreeing to buy the teams on layaway from Glen Taylor five years ago. Taylor, a longtime team owner dating to the '90s and one of the faces of NBA ownership over the decades, had sellers' remorse after agreeing to the transitional deal with Lore and A-Rod, and it went to arbitration. One of Taylor's lines of attack was that Lore and A-Rod couldn't actually afford the purchase, had missed payment deadlines and would need to cut salary to help their cash flow. While the new guys brought in new investment partners, arbitrators ruled on behalf of them and Taylor had to let go.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves have cut salary over the past three years and now Lore is selling down his stake. I never thought I'd write this on Al Gore's internet, but ... maybe Glen Taylor was right?