NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league likely does not have a place to intervene in the ongoing dispute between majority owner Glen Taylor and minority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore over sale of a portion of the franchise that would have made Rodriguez and Lore the new controlling owners.

"It's not clear whether there will be a role for the league to get involved," Silver told reporters Wednesday in New York, where the league was holding a board of governors meeting. "... They have a purchase agreement and there's a dispute now in the purchase agreement and in their purchase agreement, they, in essence, pre-agreed to a dispute resolution mechanism that includes mediation and arbitration, and that's where it stands.

"There is no role for the league in that process."

That arbitration process could take several months. Silver's comments are the first from the league on the matter, and they come nearly two weeks after Taylor, Rodriguez and Lore traded public barbs over Lore and Rodriguez's bid to purchase the next 40% of the franchise from Taylor after purchasing nearly 40% previously.

Rodriguez and Lore accused Taylor of having "seller's remorse," that Taylor was looking for an excuse to back out of the deal because the franchise is worth significantly more than when the sides agreed to a $1.5 billion sale of it in 2021. Forbes valued it in October at $2.5 billion.

Lore and Rodriguez said they were entitled to another 90-day extension to complete the deal after a March 27 deadline because they were awaiting league approval of information they said they submitted to the NBA prior to the deadline. Silver was asked about that issue.

"I can't say more, other than that comment is at the heart of their dispute," Silver said. "Again, the dispute is precisely that … That's the very basis of the dispute. And so that dispute will be resolved independent of the league office."

Taylor, who also owns the Star Tribune, has said Lore and Rodriguez didn't meet contractual obligations of the deal along the way prior to March 27, and he said in a statement on March 28 that the team was "not for sale" and he would remain the controlling owner. Taylor did add that he had a responsibility to his limited partners, who were looking for Taylor to seize an opportunity to increase the value of their shares.

Silver said how the nature of the transaction played out over multiple years may cause the league to re-examine whether it will approve such a structure for a deal in the future.

"It's certainly not ideal to have a stepped transaction like this," Silver said. "I mean, it met our rules from that standpoint. And it's what Glen Taylor wanted and it's what they were willing to agree to at the time. But I think once the dust clears on this deal, it may cause us to reassess what sort of transactions we should allow."