Lynx in WNBA Finals or Timberwolves in China? For owner Glen Taylor, one takes priority

Glen Taylor is sticking with the Lynx for the rest of the WNBA Finals playoff run against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Timberwolves? They'll have to wait.

Taylor owns both teams, of course, and sits courtside for almost all of the home games for each team. And even though the Wolves are going to open training camp in San Diego on Saturday and will leave for China immediately after their preseason opener vs. the Los Angeles Lakers in Anaheim Sept. 30, where they will play two preseason games, Taylor will stick close to his WNBA franchise.

"We're going to stay with the Lynx as they play out their run," Taylor said of he and wife Becky. "We think there is a unique opportunity there. That's our priority."

The Wolves have a roster that could get them into the NBA playoffs for the first time since the spring of 2004. The trip to China, where they'll play two preseason games against defending champion Golden State, is seen as a big opportunity to grow the popularity of the team in particular and the league in general, in China.

But the Lynx are playing for a Finals title.

"I would like to be in China," Taylor said. "And I'll get over there. But the priority is to be a part of the Lynx organization."

When it comes to that, Taylor, who also owns the Star Tribune, has already put much of his money where his mouth is. Should the Finals go the distance and reach Game 5 on Oct. 4, he will have spent upward of $1 million to air-condition Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus, where the Lynx had to move after playing the regular season in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.

It is an expenditure that could eat away the team's profitability for the season.

"That million dollars could push us back to losing some," Taylor said. "But we'll be fairly close. The No. 1 thing is to do what's right for the players and the fans."