Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore reportedly wanted the Wolves to avoid the luxury tax, which would have been nearly impossible

Glen Taylor, the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, has never been known for spending big in the NBA. He hasn't paid the luxury tax once since it was introduced in 2011, although, to be fair, he's rarely had a reason to. The Timberwolves have been one of the worst teams in the NBA for nearly two decades. Now it seems like they're in for a years-long battle, and the team's spending appears to be at the center of Taylor's failed sale of the franchise to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, documents that Lore and Rodriguez submitted to the NBA, Taylor and the Carlyle Group (a possible source of funding as they attempted to complete the purchase of the team) showed that their new ownership group planned for a payroll of $171 Million next season. To put this into perspective, the projected luxury tax for next season is $172 million, meaning Rodriguez and Lore had reportedly planned to avoid the tax entirely.

In the context of Minnesota's roster, this would have been nearly impossible without gutting the team. Currently, Spotrac projects Minnesota's team salary next season to be approximately $185.7 million. That number will immediately increase by around $7 million if Anthony Edwards makes an All-NBA team. The contract he signed last summer includes a Rose Rule escalator that increases the deal's starting salary to up to 30% of the projected cap of $141 million as long as he is eligible, which is an All-NBA selection would ensure.

That brings Minnesota's salary closer to the $193 million mark… But it's also important to note that the Timberwolves only have 10 players under contract for next season. Even if the Timberwolves decided to only field 14 players next season, and even if the final four roster spots went exclusively to rookie free agents making their projected minimum salary of $1.16, that's ultimately still the case a team salary approaching the $200 million mark. This projection doesn't even take into account the veterans' minimum contracts for the end of their bench, let alone the free agent signings like Kyle Anderson and Monte Morris, who should earn more than the minimum salary in free agency.

If Rodriguez and Lore actually planned to avoid the luxury tax entirely, that would essentially mean they would have to forfeit between $25 million and $30 million in salary without getting any money back. There's just no way to do that without ruining the roster. Minnesota could achieve these savings by bringing in Jaden McDaniels (who will make about $22.6 million next season) and either Naz Reid (about $14 million) or Mike Conley (about $10 million). trade someone else's cap space, but that would mean losing two of his top six players for nothing. Had the Timberwolves taken this approach, not only would they have avoided paying the luxury tax, but as Wojnarowski reports, they would also have put themselves in a position to receive a projected $6.5 million in luxury tax distribution from the teams that do Actually pay tax next season.

The Timberwolves have a chance to secure first place in the Western Conference. They're primed to continue competing for championships for years to come, and they have one of the sport's brightest young stars in Anthony Edwards. A new ownership group taking on such draconian cost-cutting measures and immediately instituting them would be unpopular, to say the least.

Of course, the reporting here doesn't leave Taylor unsettled either. According to Wojnarowski, Taylor believed these actions would “jeopardize the franchise's ability to compete for a championship.” In Taylor's own statement announcing the Timberwolves were no longer for sale, he said he would “continue to work with Marc, Alex and the rest of the ownership group to ensure our teams have the necessary resources to “to compete at the highest level on and off the field.” This creates the image of an owner willing to pay the tax himself, and this would not be cheap.

Let's assume the Timberwolves actually keep this year's roster core together next season and estimate a team salary of $200 million. This would involve a tax payment of $76.5 million, bringing the total cost of the squad to $276.5 million. That would be the seventh-highest payroll in NBA history, according to Spotrac data, trailing only the Warriors of the last four seasons and the Clippers of the last two. When factoring in the $6.5 million lost tax distribution that would result from falling below the limit, the total financial difference between keeping the team together and the reported Lore Rodriguez plan is $112 million -Dollar.

Taylor has the money to foot that bill, but his track record hardly suggests he'll be willing to do so. There is a middle ground here, where one core player is moved instead of two. Minnesota could also choose to try to move All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns now, while his value is closer to its peak and before the dangers of his long-term contract become more apparent. This would impact the current squad but would pave the way to a more sustainable long-term squad. The cheaper Reid has proven capable of filling in for Towns in the short term, so there's a case for such a drastic change that affects both basketball and finances.

But ultimately, the Timberwolves are built to win here and now. There is no version of this plan that does not involve paying for a very expensive service plan. Wojnarowski's reporting suggests that the Rodriguez-Lore group was unwilling to do so. Only time will tell if Taylor actually is.

Looking for more NBA coverage? John Gonzalez, Bill Reiter, Ashley Nicole Moss and special guests dive deep into the league's biggest storylines daily on the Beyond the Arc podcast.