A little team building in South Florida has come at a price.
Timberwolves fined $250,000 for offseason practice at Alex Rodriguez's Florida home
The NBA fined the Wolves for the workouts, which are not permitted outside a team's home market.
November 15, 2021 at 9:22PM
A quarter of a million dollars, to be exact.
Back in September, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez — who have agreed, ultimately, to purchase the Timberwolves from Glen Taylor for $1.5 billion — decided they wanted to bring the team together in Miami for a little bonding.
So they did, hosting the entire team and staffers at Rodriguez's Coral Gables, Fla., home for dinners and practices before the season began. The events were not a secret. Indeed, they were documented extensively on social media, crediting the new owners' attempts at bonding the team.
The Wolves even posed a group photo on their official Twitter account on Sept. 8.
The organization has been fined $250,000 by the NBA. The fine came for violating league rules that prohibit teams from arranging or paying for offseason practice or group workout sessions for their players outside a team's home market.
To be fair, $250,000 isn't back-breaking. But it's still substantial.
REID HURTING
Backup center Naz Reid sat out Monday's game against the Suns with soreness in his right foot.
"It was something that happened in the last game,'' Wolves coach Chris Finch said, referring to Saturday's game vs. the Lakers in Los Angeles. "But he doesn't even know exactly where. And he woke up [Sunday] with all kinds of stiffness and pain.''
The Wolves had sent 6-8 forward/center Nathan Knight to the team's G League affiliate in Iowa, but they got him back in town for the game.
ETC.
- Iowa Wolves forward Bruce Bowen has been named to the 12-man roster of the USA World Cup qualifying team. Bowen has started two games for Iowa, averaging 8.5 points and 13.5 rebounds. The team will train Nov. 20-25 at the University of Houston. The FIBA World Cup qualifying games will be played in Chihuaua, Mexico, starting Nov. 26 vs. Cuba. The team will be coached by former NBA head coach Jim Boylen.
- The Wolves assigned guard Leandro Bolmaro to the Iowa Wolves.
Their 28-point lead got trimmed to two late, but they held on in a Western Conference finals rematch that missed an injured Luka Doncic after halftime.
