The press conference — held at the Thomas & Mack Center, the center of NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, and moderated by play-by-play voice of the Timberwolves Michael Grady — felt like a typical new-era press conference. We heard a lot about what drives the enthusiasm that both Lore and Rodriguez have for their new positions. We heard about their new partner in Jump, which Rodriguez described as an “Uber or Airbnb of in-arena ticketing.” Lore described the whole process as “a dream come true” and Rodriguez said, “Marc and I are obsessed to bring a winner to Minnesota.” And of course, the idea to re-engage Timberwolves icon Kevin Garnett was broached as was the inevitable plan to replace the aging Target Center with a new arena.
From the sounds of it, their to-do list is already as long as the list of Napheesa Collier‘s MVP credentials.
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The Q&A portion of the press conference had an NBA-heavy slant to it. Not a single question inquired about the state of the consistent winner already in Minnesota. Almost exactly 24 hours later and 1,800 miles away, Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve sat down for her pregame press conference before Minnesota’s matinee with the Chicago Sky. Her first media appearance since Lore and Rodriguez’s media debut as controlling owners.
“If they would have asked them something [about the] Lynx, I think you would have seen their enthusiasm for what’s happening,” Reeve answered when asked about the press conference. “I’ve appreciated their support and I’m excited for what lies ahead.”
Due to the years-long transition to the Lore/Rodriguez ownership era — from Glen and Becky Taylor, the only ownership group the Lynx have ever had — both Lore and Rodriguez have been in the building and around the team often since 2021. Reeve referred to it as a “rent-to-own” process and didn’t hesitate to endorse her team’s new ownership.
“The first phone call I got from Marc back in 2021 when this all happened, he asked me, ‘Why [are] the salaries in the WNBA so low?’ That was our first conversation,” Reeve said. “I looked at my phone like I was being prank called. We’ve had good conversations. Anytime I’ve needed Marc or Alex, [with] a text, a phone call, they immediately respond and are involved. They’ve been a part of free agency for four years now and they’ve gotten to know a lot of players in the league.”
The question about WNBA salaries sparked the first of what’s now become several positive conversations between Reeve and Lore.
“I said, ‘Well, some think it’s bad business to invest in women’s sports,’ and he just thought that was silly,” Reeve continued. “It’s like any startup, you have to invest in it. He’s got ideas of where we should be. A lot of his angle is fairness. He said, ‘In fairness, we should be doing this…’ and I said, ‘Well you’ll have an opportunity now, when you go to your board of governors meetings, you’re going to be around some people that are like-minded, and that’s a good thing. Because we didn’t necessarily always have that —there are more of them now. So I think that’s going to bode well for the success of our league when we have ownership that are really in it for the right reasons — that are treating it like men’s sports.”
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Lore and Rodriguez may not have been asked about the Lynx on Friday, but in a video also hosted by Grady and posted by the Lynx the day the NBA Board of Governors granted their formal approval of the sale, the pair of New Yorkers spoke directly to the Lynx side of their new venture and the ways in which to support Reeve.
“We’re excited about not messing this up — you know, we’ve got a good thing going here,” Lore said after a passionate declaration that they will never move the team out of Minnesota. Ever.
“Like Marc said, I think we’ve just got to stay the hell out of the way,” Rodriguez added. “They’ve done such a phenomenal job. We really just [need to] provide the resources for Cheryl, and the support. She’s already built an absolute juggernaut here.”
On Thursday, the Minnesota Lynx became just the third WNBA franchise to log its 500th all-time regular season win. On Friday, the new pair of owners made their first public appearance ahead of trying to win the next 500. Lore and Rodriguez may be new to having the controls to a WNBA franchise resting in their hands, but they do have the endorsement of the woman who’s led the team to 348 of those aforementioned 500 wins. And that is an undeniably fantastic place to start.