At this point, you're surely aware of the ongoing court battle between Minnesota Timberwolves longtime owner Glen Taylor and the duo of former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez and billionaire businessman Marc Lore, a pair that has already acquired a minority stake in the team. But here's the CliffsNotes version of this story in case you need to be brought up to speed:

Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore purchased a 36 percent share of the Minnesota Timberwolves (and Minnesota Lynx) in 2023, and had intended to acquire majority ownership of those two franchises from Glen Taylor over the course of a three-year period. However, after Rodriguez and Lore's financial situation proved to be iffy, Taylor attempted to back out of the deal, resulting in a messy, costly, and embarrassing legal battle that has cast a shadow on just the second Western Conference Finals appearance in Timberwolves franchise history.

But even in the midst of courtroom drama and an 0-1 deficit to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, the 48-year-old Alex Rodriguez continues to find time to stay in shape and improve his game on the court for lord knows what reason.

 

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A post shared by Alex Rodriguez (@arod)

Now I'd be lying if I said that the first thing that went through my mind when I saw this video wasn't Jackie Moon, the character played by Will Ferrell in the 2008 film Semi-Pro, who served as the owner, head coach, and starting power forward of the fictional ABA franchise, the Flint Tropics. For a brief second, I just imagined Mike Conley throwing one entry pass after another into Alex Rodriguez “in the blender,” just like Scootsie DoubleDay did with Jackie Moon nearly fifty years ago. But alas, I digress.

Anthony Edwards and Alex Rodriguez after a Minnesota Timberwolves game

Alex Rodriguez's Timberwolves hopes

What's much more important than Alex Rodriguez fine-tuning his jumper and earning his midday meal would be his and Marc Lore's willingness to pony up the money that it will take to keep this Timberwolves squad, which is four wins away from their first ever NBA Finals appearance, together for the foreseeable future. This may be easier said than done, and based on what we know about A-Rod and Lore's plans for the team, it may not be in the cards.

Part of Glen Taylor's apprehension in selling the remainder of his share of the Timberwolves to the Rodriguez/Lore duo was due to their financial projections for the 2024-25 season, which showed the Timberwolves shedding salary in order to avoid having to pay the $25 million luxury tax as a team over the salary cap. With Rudy Gobert already signed to a long-term and very expensive deal, with max deals likely coming for both Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves are bound to get expensive in a hurry, and not all small market owners are willing to foot that very large bill.

But if you're Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore OR Glen Taylor, how the hell do you not do everything you can to keep this group in tact when they've already knocked out the defending NBA champions in a series in which they won three games on Denver's home court? How do you potentially squander the prime of 22-year-old Anthony Edwards, one of the league's brightest stars?

Maybe that's why A-Rod is getting jumpers up. Maybe his ‘mission' is to save the Timberwolves, both on and off the court.

I can only hope.