"They missed it,'' Taylor said.

This was in a short phone interview with Taylor from his home in Mankato on Thursday. A couple of hours earlier, the Timberwolves sent out a news release that the NBA team and their partners, the Lynx, were no longer for sale.

"Lore and ARod now own 36 per cent,'' Taylor said by phone. "I will work with them, as I do with my other limiteds.''

That term is used by Taylor to describe a few other individuals who own small shares of the basketball business.

The purchase price of $1.5 billion negotiated by Lore and Rodriguez has been dwarfed by other sales of NBA teams — including in Milwaukee and Phoenix.

"We could've gotten more — we could've gotten $2.5 billion paid up front — but that person was going to try to move the team to Las Vegas,'' Taylor said in February.

There have been "NBA insiders'' stating that the relationship between Lore, ARod and Taylor had "deteriorated'' in recent weeks. Not enough so that Lore declined to make a pitch to Taylor for an investment in another company in February.

On Thursday, Taylor was asked about those reports. "I don't know if that's accurate,'' he said. "Lore told me he has been busy 24/7 with other projects. And ARod, he has a lot of people to meet when he's at a game.

"The deadline had been pushed back, and they missed it. That's what led to this.''

Taylor said it doesn't change the basketball operation, with the Timberwolves currently headed by Tim Connelly.

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