The Timberwolves are becoming more recognizable in China, thanks to a business-savvy owner — and not Glen Taylor.
When Lizhang Jiang purchased a 5 percent ownership stake in the Minnesota Timberwolves, the transaction was greeted with little to no fanfare.
Timberwolves fans, like myself, a Chinese-American, did not know what to make of Mr. Jiang, other than the fact that he was the first Chinese owner in the NBA.
Mhm. This is a historic moment, make no mistake. The headlines throughout the web solidified this statement.
Still, I was feeling puzzled. “What does it mean to become a minority owner,” I recalled asking myself.
I finally had an answer when Mr. Jiang, whose English name is John, introduced himself to Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune. Mr. Jiang, a diehard NBA fan, is a business-savvy owner with a simple mission statement:
“We expect to help Minnesota to have rapid growth in the Chinese market,” said Jiang, who founded the Shanghai-based marketing firm Double-Edge Sports and recently bought control of a soccer club based in Granada, Spain).
Mr. Jiang is not just expressing rhetoric. He means it, flexing his business-savvy muscles:
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“Just yesterday afternoon [on July 13th, 2016] we had a meeting with top management of the [Wolves] to discuss the urgent work we will do in the next few days,” Jiang said.
“Right now we have taken action already to help the Timberwolves develop in the Chinese market.
‘‘… It is perfect timing. We can use our experience to push the Timberwolves to become more popular in China, Asia, and even the world.”
Well, that is fantastic. Mr. Jiang is a minority owner who will play a proactive role on business operations overseas.
Great. In October, the Minnesota Timberwolves announced a partnership with TCL Corp., a Chinese television maker that will undoubtedly expand their visibility in China.
Awesome. Surely Mr. Jiang’s fingerprints were all over this agreement.
Still, his business-savvy moves felt abstract to me. It did not resonate with me until today, thanks to a recent tweet from the Wolves blogosphere:
My good friend randomly found player -specific Timberwolves milk at the grocery store in Hong Kong. Actually! pic.twitter.com/nFNDl4pYax
— TwolvesBlog (@TwolvesBlog) December 18, 2016
Cool! Everything is starting to make sense. I am starting to understand Mr. Jiang’s meaning of the Wolves’ “rapid growth in the Chinese market.”
What does this mean in the future? We could see more Chinese products with Timberwolves logos, definitely. We could also see more partnerships between Chinese companies and the Timberwolves that will bring more Chinese fans to the Target Center.
Who knows, but maybe Mr. Jiang’s influence will also accelerate the growth of a Chinese/Chinese-American community in the Twin Cities? If it has not already, we shall see.
We will never know, that is for sure, but make no mistake: because of Mr. Jiang, the Minnesota Timberwolves are becoming China’s team.
Right now, and in the future.
