Photo: Peter Baba

The legal dispute over who will ultimately control the Minnesota Timberwolves is unlikely to be resolved until at least January, according to sources cited by Eben Novy-Williams and Michael McCann of Sportico.

As outlined by Sportico, the legal teams representing current team owner Glen Taylor and prospective buyers Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez will respond to “final questions of clarification” from the three-person arbitration panel overseeing the case in early January.

However, the panel is not expected to make its final ruling on the matter until after these questions are addressed, leaving the timeline for resolution unclear.

Even once the arbitration process is concluded, the ownership fight may not be fully resolved. As Novy-Williams and McCann highlight, the losing side in the arbitration could challenge the ruling by petitioning a federal judge to vacate the arbitration award. This would introduce another layer of legal complexity.

Furthermore, if the arbitrators decide in favor of Lore and Rodriguez, their proposed ownership group would still need approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors before taking control of the Timberwolves.

This multi-step process suggests that even after the arbitration is settled, the transition of ownership could face further delays. The situation remains ongoing, with several potential legal challenges on the horizon.