Former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore are finalizing a deal to purchase the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves from majority owner Glen Taylor, according to multiple reports. Although Rodriguez hasn't played in a major league game since 2016, he's still a bigger name than any current player, and he's one of the most polarizing athletes of his generation.
Rodriguez' on-field production was among the best of his era. He was a three-time MVP, a 14-time All-Star, and currently ranks fourth on the all-time home runs list. However, scandals certainly hurt his reputation during his playing days, and what he did to gain a competitive advantage put him in very hot water. His peculiar off-the-field behavior as a player certainly comes to mind, something he has drastically cleaned up since retiring. He’s one of the best MLB broadcasters, without question. Another assertion that can’t be denied is that Rodriguez is a champion, and that championship experience -- in combination with the foundation that the Timberwolves have -- could lead to something special.
There's only one other NBA owner that was a success story as a professional athlete, and he goes by the name of Michael Jordan. Jordan is the principle owner and chairman for the Charlotte Hornets, which currently rank sixth in the Eastern Conference in spite of having zero superstars. Considering that Charlotte's two best players, Gordon Hayward and LaMelo Ball, have been out of the lineup for a significant amount of time due to injuries, it’s impressive that the team is still very much in contention for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Hornets now have a winning culture that Jordan has cultivated, and that’s never an easy thing to accomplish when overseeing a small-market team.
Rodriguez is looking to do the exact same thing in Minnesota. He hopes that his winning experience will permeate throughout the Timberwolves organization, which currently owns the worst record in the NBA at 14-40. In Minnesota's 32-year existence as a franchise, they've won a total of just two playoff series. So, how does Rodriguez' purchasing of the Timberwolves make any sense? Well, if you look at this closely, it makes a whole lot of sense.
The 2007 Spurs, 2008 Celtics, 2012-13 Heat, 2014 Spurs, 2016 Cavaliers, and 2017-18 Warriors all have something in common. They all won an NBA title with a Big Three in their prime and locks for the Hall of Fame. Having a Big Three with Hall of Fame-bound players at the peak of their abilities is a blueprint that's worked for eight of the league's last 14 champions, and this is what the Timberwolves are certainly building toward with D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Karl Anthony-Towns.
At just 22 years old -- when Russell was given the keys to his own team -- he averaged over 21 points per game with seven assists as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. That resulted in a total of 1,712 points and 563 assists for the entire season. Do you know who was the last player to accomplish that feat at Russell’s age? The answer is Derrick Rose, during the 2010-11 season. It was the same year in which Rose became the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history. The five other players to have accomplished this at Russell’s age were Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook. Those numbers were anything but "empty calories" for Russell, as the Nets finished over .500 (42 wins) that season and found themselves in the playoffs. In the previous three seasons, the Nets had averaged just 23 wins. Russell’s impact nearly doubled their win total.
Apologies to Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, but Edwards has been more durable as a rookie for Minnesota, and he's continued his rapid improvement as a guard. He's all but a lock to win Rookie of the Year, averaging 18 points per game at just 19 years old. When James was 19, he averaged 21 points in his rookie season. This is freaking LeBron James, and Edwards is just three points per game behind him. It’s also worth noting that James was getting eight more minutes of burn per night, so don’t be surprise if Edwards surpasses James in points per game as a rookie because Edwards has been averaging 22 since March.
Let's also not forget about Towns, who is the cornerstone piece for Minnesota. He’s a 25-year-old who, if given the right pieces, culture, and coaching staff, could very well become the NBA's best big man. From a rebounding perspective alone, Towns is one of four players in league history to have put up six seasons averaging 11-plus boards per game. The other three are Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard, and Andre Drummond. Howard is the best rebounder of his generation -- same can be said for Drummond -- and Shaq is, well, Shaq, the most dominant big man of the last 40 years. Unlike Howard and Drummond, Towns can score like O'Neal. He's already posted four seasons with an average of 24 points per game, and the only other centers in history to accomplish this by age 25 were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, O'Neal, and another Hall of Famer in Walt Bellamy. The thing Towns has that these three other prominent big men didn't is incredible range and efficiency at the foul line. These two skillsets are so imperative in today’s game. For a center to shoot 40-percent from three and 84-percent from the free throw line is almost unheard of.
Not only do the Timberwolves have a Big Three featuring players with Hall of Fame celings, but they also have a Big Three aged 25 and younger. No other team in the NBA can claim that. How can we surmise that the Timberwolves will go from very little success to perennial title contenders? The Warriors are a great example of just that. Nobody thought Golden State would have the incredible amount of success they achieved in the late 2010s, but boy, did they ever.
From the 1991 season all the way up to the 2013 season, the Warriors had won a total of just two playoff series. That includes a 12-year period in which they didn’t even find themselves in the playoffs. But, in 2015, Golden State won all four rounds of the NBA playoffs -- ultimately capturing a title -- and they've won a total of 18 playoff series since. How can a turnaround like this be possible? A Big Three consisting of Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson. That's how.
Rodriguez might not have Warriors-type success, but he has a core that's unique, a core that no other NBA team possesses. If Rodriguez can bring the "team success" mentality he was able to capture as a player, the sky is the limit for the Timberwolves. The NBA is very much a "talent wins" league, and Minnesota certainly embodies that concept. Welcome to the NBA, A-Rod.
CBS Sports Radio producer David Shepard is a former ESPN researcher, a former Division I college basketball practice player, and the host of The Good Shepard YouTube channel. Follow him on Twitter @TheGoodShepard_.