Timberwolves Lay Off Dozens After A-Rod, Lore Take Over

Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore are beginning to remake the Timberwolves and Lynx. 

On Wednesday the organization laid off dozens of employees on the business side. Reports range from 35 to 40 people affected out of roughly 220 employees.

The cuts did not hit basketball operations.

MLB legend Rodriguez and e-commerce billionaire Lore took control of the team in June after a battle with Glen Taylor that started in March 2024. The duo eventually beat Taylor in arbitration after Taylor had tried to claim that his previous agreement to sell the team was voided by the new group missing a scheduled payment. 

The Timberwolves made the Western Conference finals for the second consecutive season while the Lynx currently boast a 28–6 record, best in the WNBA. 

At the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July. Rodriguez said in July there is only a 9% overlap between the Lynx and Timberwolves fanbases. He said that he wanted to leave the teams’ on-court successes largely untouched while improving the business.

“Our job is to really kind of just get out of the way [with the Lynx]”, Rodriguez said in July. “…We’re gonna roll up our sleeves, hire a CEO, bring in a person that Marc and I feel has the same capability as [Wolves president of basketball operations] Tim (Connelly), so we can copy and paste what we’ve done in basketball and do it in business.”

The layoffs impacted employees on the business side for the Wolves and Iowa Wolves, the team’s G League affiliate, according to the Star Tribune. The newspaper also reported that employees who had dual responsibilities with the Timberwolves and Lynx were also laid off, but no one who solely works for the Lynx lost their job. 

A Timberwolves spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.