NBA: Timberwolves to add Chinese part-owner: report

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NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 25: Glen Taylor (R), owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, speaks to the media following the NBA Board of Governors Meeting, during which Commissioner David Stern (L) outlined his plans to step down in February 2014, at the St. Regis hotel on October 25, 2012 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Alex Trautwig/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 25: Glen Taylor (R), owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, speaks to the media following the NBA Board of Governors Meeting, during which Commissioner David Stern (L) outlined his plans to step down in February 2014, at the St. Regis hotel on October 25, 2012 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Alex Trautwig/Getty Images/AFP

LOS ANGELES , United States (AFP) — Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor will bring in the NBA’s first part-owner from China in a deal to add two new investors to his ownership group, ESPN reported Monday.

Citing unnamed sources, ESPN said the deal will allow Taylor to remain the club’s controlling owner.

Last week, he closed a deal to bring in Jiang Lizhang, a Shanghai-based businessman who founded the Chinese marketing company Double-Edge Sports.

Jiang has worked with the NBA in China, ESPN reported.

He is thought to have purchased five percent of the Timberwolves and another five percent of their sister WNBA franchise the Minnesota Lynx.

Taylor has also sold a share of the team to New York-based real estate magnate Meyer Orbach.

Taylor said last year that he planned to sell 30 percent of the team to Steve Kaplan, a minority owner with the Memphis Grizzlies, however, that deal fell through.

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