Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez completed their buyout of the Minnesota Timberwolves this week at a $4.5 billion valuation, the largest sale price in NBA history and roughly four times what Glen Taylor agreed to sell the franchise for back in 2021 before that deal collapsed into a two-year arbitration fight. Taylor's original mistake wasn't picking the wrong price. It was picking a price and then trying to walk away from it once he saw what the Boston Celtics sale ($6.1 billion, March 2025) did to every comp in the league. Minnesota now sits fourth on that list, behind the Celtics, the Lakers and the Warriors, ahead of a Dallas market that just watched its own front office give away a two-time champion for nothing.

The Mavericks bought out Klay Thompson on Thursday, ending a two-season stint in which the four-time champion posted the worst shooting numbers of his career, with one year and roughly $17 million left on the three-year, $50 million deal he signed in 2024. He's Miami-bound, expected to sign for the veteran minimum, chasing a ring with the team that has made cap-circumventing veteran discounts a house specialty since the Big Three days. Dallas save a bit of luxury tax and clears a roster spot. Minnesota's owners cash out at four and a half billion. Same NBA, same summer: one franchise just found out what it's worth, the other just found out what one of its stars isn't.