New Timberwolves and Lynx owners lay off dozens of business-side workers

Chris Hine, Star Tribune on Aug 20, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — Since becoming controlling owners of the Timberwolves and Lynx in late June, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have been evaluating the business side of the franchises.

This week, that evaluation resulted in layoffs of what a source said were roughly 35 employees as part of Lore and Rodriguez’s restructuring of the franchises.

The staff reduction touched on several business-side departments not related to the basketball operations of the Wolves and Lynx. The business departments include communications, marketing and sales.

The layoffs, first reported by the Sports Business Journal, included staffers who worked on the Wolves’ business side of the operation, for the Iowa Wolves, and those who had dual responsibilities with the Wolves and Lynx.

No employees who work exclusively with the Lynx were affected, the source said, adding that these layoffs are a part of the long-term vision Lore and Rodriguez have for remaking the business side of the operation.

Former CEO Ethan Casson and COO Ryan Tanke left the team this summer for other jobs. Casson is president of the Dallas Mavericks, and Tanke is COO of the Houston Rockets.

The Wolves are slated to pay the luxury tax on the basketball side of the operation for the second consecutive season, but these moves do not affect the basketball operations budgets for both the Wolves and Lynx.

Rodriguez and Lore took over as controlling owners of the franchise in late June from former owner Glen Taylor after the NBA approved the final transaction in the multi-step takeover of the franchise that Lore, Rodriguez and Taylor agreed to in 2021. That came after Taylor tried to stop that final step in March 2024 by saying Lore and Rodriguez did not adhere to their agreement.

Lore and Rodriguez took Taylor to arbitration and prevailed in a 2-1 decision in February 2025.