It still looks like the $1.5 billion sale of the Timberwolves and Lynx will happen. But up until at least last week, there was an awkward silence on behalf of the buyers.

Minnesota Timberwolves co-owners Alex Rodriguez, right, and Marc Lore watch during the first half of an NBA basketball game between Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

The initial deadline for the sale to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore was Dec. 31. Another deadline granted by owner Glen Taylor had been pushed back until this Thursday, presumably for Rodriguez and Lore to acquire more capital.

Don’t be surprised if yet another deadline is granted beyond Thursday.

Word is the buyers still need $600 million to close the deal. For a transaction of this magnitude, a lack of correspondence between the buyers and seller has been puzzling.

Taylor hadn’t heard from the buyers in at least a month, but he has remained patient. At age 82 he’s already a double-billionaire and hardly in need of cash.

— Rodriguez and Lore are in the process of bringing new partners into the deal, but those have been unknown, even to Taylor, who if he’s to become a 20 percent partner, as initially was planned, would like to know the conditions. Taylor’s group on Jan. 3 requested pertinent information from the buyers without response.

Taylor remains the Timberwolves-Lynx owner and oversees all transactions. It’s been under his final say and direction that the Wolves have become the Western Conference’s co-leader.

— What’s especially interesting about the sale is that although Rodriguez and Lore plan to be majority owners, they’re not expected to own more than 24 percent of the team. The NBA requires only 15 percent, which is surprising.

There’s whispering that an outside equity firm is going to invest $300 million in the deal, but it won’t have decision-making rights. It would have investment value in a league where the average team now is worth an estimated $2.7 billion. Besides the equity firm, five limited investors are expected to join for a total 10 percent.

— Of note is that if Rodriguez and Lore were to buy Taylor out entirely, there is language in the sales agreement that the deal would be worth more than the original $1.5 billion price.

— One of the families that partnered last December to buy the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 billion had contacted Taylor about buying the Timberwolves for considerably more than the $1.5 billion Rodriguez-Lore deal. But a condition was that the group could move the team to Las Vegas. Taylor declined.

Also, Mat Ishbia, who in 2022 bought the Phoenix Suns for a record $4 billion, inquired of Taylor about buying the Timberwolves and probably would have paid more than the $1.5 billion. The timing for that deal wasn’t right, though.

— No doubt Rodriguez and Lore will demand a new arena in Minneapolis, but it’s likely they’re unaware of how long and challenging replacing Target Center would take. The pair might also be naive enough to think they could relocate the franchise, which several sources in the know say wouldn’t happen.

— Craig Leipold, the Wild owner who has been in love with hockey since he was a kid (he’s 71 now), was on his feet in his Xcel Energy Center suite the entire third period of Monday’s startling 10-7 comeback victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Minnesota scored seven goals in the final period.

“In 25 years, I have never seen any games played like that one, never seen seven goals in any period in my life,” Leipold said.

The game included three hat tricks, one each by the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Ericksson Ek and the Canucks’ J.T. Miller.

“Never seen three hat tricks in one game,” Leipold added. “Never seen a comeback like that by any team, watching on TV or live. It was unbelievable, a once in a lifetime event.”

— Another lifetime event occurred 44 years ago Thursday, when the young amateur-laden Herb Brooks-coached U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the powerful, veteran Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, N.Y., en route to the gold medal.

I asked Brooks’ widow, Patti, if she had a lasting memory of the historic event. She had watched the game from the stands.

“I have lots of memories of that, but probably my one big memory was fighting to get down to the locker room because I didn’t have credentials,” she said. “The ushers and guards were highway patrolmen. Lord knows, I can turn into Meryl Streep if I have to and kind of talk my way into a lot of situations.

“I finally found one guy who let me in. He said I don’t believe you, but let me see your drivers license. I showed it to him and he let me in.

“I remember walking down the hall and seeing Herbie in the doorway on the phone talking to (President) Jimmy Carter.”

— On March 2 at Mariucci Arena, the first of Brooks’ three Gophers NCAA championship teams, 1974, will be honored on its 50th anniversary.

— It’s not for six more years, but Harvard, which the other day named Andrew Aurich, the former Concordia Academy star lineman, as its head football coach, visits hometown St. Paul against St. Thomas.

— The first female in major league baseball history to be a primary play-by-play broadcaster will be Jenny Cavnar, who this season will call Oakland Athletics TV games.

“It’s a wonderful time in our sport,” Twins award-winning play-by-play voice Cory Provus said. “She is immensely qualified. I’ve never met her, but I’ve listened to her on satellite radio for a long, long time on MLB Channel 89 and she knows the game, she’s well respected in the game and I couldn’t be happier for her and her family. I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful moment for our sport that Jenny got this job.”

— Provus, who has been the Twins’ regular radio play-by-play voice for 12 seasons, will begin his 13th with his TV debut on March 20 when Minnesota hosts the Detroit Tigers in spring training.

“It’s going to be the biggest challenge, by far, of my career — there’s no debating that,” he said of the switch to TV. “I’m 45 now. I still want to be ambitious and not just sit back and say ‘OK, I can do this or that for the next 25, 30 years.’ I still want to challenge myself and if not now, then when.

“I want to take this opportunity to try continuing my Twins career, albeit now primarily in a different medium.”

— The TV challenge for Provus, even though he’s already an accomplished broadcaster?

“In many ways, it’s the same audience, but it’s also a new audience,” he said. “I have to remember that there’s probably a bunch of Twins fans out there — hundreds if not thousands — who don’t know my work because they were primarily watching Twins baseball on television, and I have to be understanding of that. In many ways, I have to introduce myself to probably a large section of our fan base because they were primarily consuming Twins baseball visually than on radio. And that’s a big part of it.

“I’m often asked if I’m going to describe the uniforms and do some of my old tricks. Probably not because it’s a visual medium. So I think what that’s going to do is help keep people sober because I imagine it became quite the drinking game. When I’d describe the uniforms, I’m sure that led to quite the party atmosphere for Twins fans listening on their boat, around the house, at the cabin.

“So, if I can help increase sobriety, then I think we‘re all better off for it.”

— The Twins should have little difficulty winning their division again, mostly because the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals are among baseball’s worst teams. The Detroit Tigers will challenge, but only slightly.

— The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and his new $700 million contract visit the Twins at Target Field for three games beginning on April 8. New Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with a $325 million contract, could start one of the games. He warms up by throwing a javelin.

— If you can’t attend the Gophers’ Wednesday evening game against record-setter Caitlin Clark and Iowa at Williams Arena (tickets ranged from $83 to $2,042 on Saturday on StubHub), it’s expected to be televised on Peacock.

— Goaltender Jaxson Stauber, 24, son of former Gophers Hobey Baker-winning goalie Robb Stauber, recently became the American Hockey League’s first goalie to earn a shutout and score a goal in the same game, per The Hockey News. Jaxson’s feat, for the Rockford IceHogs, included an empty-net goal in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Wolves.

Jaxson’s father also scored a goal in 1995 for the Rochester Americans.

— That was hockey icon Lou Nanne, an 18-handicapper at Spring Hill Golf Club, scoring his second career ace the other day in a member-guest tournament at the 126-yard No. 4 hole with a nine-iron at the posh Floridian in Palm City, Fla. Nanne, 82, now a full-time Florida resident, escaped having to buy a round of drinks that is customary of golfers scoring an ace.

“All the drinks at the tournament were free,” Louie said with a laugh.

— NBA coach of the year frontrunner Chris Finch headlines the March 6 Capital Club breakfast at Mendakota Country Club.

Don’t print that

— If the Vikings want to move up from their No. 11 spot in April’s NFL draft to No. 3 to take LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, it would cost them first-round draft picks in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) laughs as he talks to tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton (88) during the first half of the ReliaQuest Bowl NCAA college football against Wisconsin game Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Daniels is not playing in the game. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Meanwhile, steam continues that the Vikings could make Justin Jefferson available for trade. The NFL’s salary cap increase of $31 million per team could push an extension for Jefferson to more than the initially projected $150 million over five years.

— Vikings followers should know within three weeks whether free agent QB Kirk Cousins will return to the team. Cousins’ agent can officially begin negotiations (legal tampering) with interested buyers on March 11, although groundwork talks generally, and quietly, take place in hotels in Indianapolis during the NFL scouting combine, which begins this week. The official date for free agent signings is March 13.

Atlanta still looks like Cousins’ next destination. Meanwhile, there’s whispering now that the Vikings are considering free agent Sam Darnold, 26, as a bridge QB to replace Cousins before April’s draft. If Cousins leaves, the next step for the Vikings will be determining if they can move up in the draft from No. 11 to take an elite quarterback.

Both times that the Vikings extended contracts with Cousins have been in early March.

— Market value suggests it could cost nearly $10,000 a month over the school year in name, image and likeness (NIL) money for the Gophers men’s basketball team to retain freshman star Cam Crisitie, and between $3,000 and $4,000 a month to keep sophomore Pharrell Payne next season.

Andrew Rhode, who left St. Thomas for Virginia after his freshman season last year, got a $450,000, three-year NIL deal from the Cavaliers (20-7), where he’s averaging 27 minutes and 4.6 points a game.

— Ex-DeLaSalle star Jamison Battle of Ohio State, which lost to the Gophers on Thursday night at Williams Arena, received a NIL deal in the $100,000 range to transfer from Minnesota to the Buckeyes for a final season.

— Former Gophers men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino’s New Mexico Lobos are 21-6.

New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino calls out to players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against San Francisco Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

— Among nearly a dozen schools that Caleb Williams, the Macalester College basketball star who scored 41 points against the Gophers in an exhibition game last fall, reportedly has heard from is Arkansas, coached by Eric Musselman. The 6-2 Williams, who as a would-be grad student is currently eligible to enter the transfer portal, has one year of eligibility remaining.

— Pssst: Whether the Timberwolves will retain all their mega-priced players next year will depend on how well they do in this season’s playoffs.

— Despite internal discussions, the Gophers do not plan to replace time-worn Williams Arena.

— Niko Medved, the fast-rising men’s basketball coach at Colorado State (20-7) and a Minnesota grad from Roseville, has incoming signed commitments from 6-9 Kyle Jorgensen from Minneapolis Washburn and 6-8 Jon Mekonnen from Eastview.

— It looks like former Gophers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. could end up being franchise- tagged by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which would be worth a guaranteed $18 million for next season.

— Ben Bartch, 25, the 6-6, 315-pound backup special teams-offensive lineman from St. John’s, gets a check for $89,000 as the San Francisco 49ers’ losers share in the Super Bowl. Winning Kansas City Chiefs get $164,000 apiece.

— New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has hired former Cretin-Derham Hall assistant Andy Bischoff as run-game coordinator and tight ends coach, and former Gophers QB Marc Trestman as senior offensive assistant.

— Braemar in Edina will become the first public golf course in Minnesota to offer what’s called the Tempo Walk, a hands-free autonomous caddie device operated by a remote chip on clothing that tracks golfers and their clubs around the course.

— Despite rumors that Miguel Sano, 30, has lost 30 pounds since his release by the Twins two years ago, the Los Angeles Angels are listing him at 272 in spring training. Sano received a $2.75 million buyout from the Twins and is on a minor league deal with the Angels.

— The 60 Minnesota Twins players in major league spring training and staff in Fort Myers, Fla., eat 500 eggs a day during camp. Another 1,000 eggs daily are consumed when minor leaguers are in camp.

“We were joking that we should start a chicken coop,” one Twins official said.

Overheard

— Twins play-by-play voice Cory Provus, on Jenny Cavnar of the Oakland Athletics this season becoming the first female in major league baseball history to be the primary play-by-play broadcaster: “I have an 8-year-old daughter. The more she watches, or is even aware of, female broadcasters like Jenny, the more she may realize that ‘Hey, dad, I can do this, too. How awesome is that!”

FILE – Colorado Rockies television announcer Jenny Cavnar, right, jokes with Vinny Castilla, center, special assistant to the Rockies general manager, and Denver Broncos fullback Andy Janovich, June 11, 2019, in Denver. Cavnar is the new primary play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics, hired by NBC Sports California. The company made the announcement Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

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