Minnesota Timberwolves failed relocation to New Orleans

In 1994, several groups were involved in an attempt to relocate the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana. The proposed relocation would have been the second involving a Minneapolis-based franchise in the span of two years, as Minneapolis had lost its National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to Dallas in 1993. Timberwolves owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner were considering selling the team due to problems with the mortgage on the Target Center, the team's arena that had been built only four years earlier as part of Minneapolis' 1989 entry into the NBA. The events of the attempted relocation resulted in Glen Taylor, businessman and former Minnesota State Senator, purchasing the team and keeping it in Minneapolis.

After their failed courting of the Timberwolves, New Orleans made attempts to lure the Vancouver Grizzlies and Charlotte Hornets to the city in the 2000s and found success when the Hornets, who had considered both New Orleans and Memphis (where the Grizzlies eventually moved), elected to move to Louisiana in 2002. The Hornets would since then revive their franchise name back in Charlotte in 2014, while the original Charlotte Hornets would be renamed the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013.

By the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, speculation as to whether or not the Timberwolves would remain in Minneapolis following the 1994–95 season became an issue. On February 11, 1994, NBA commissioner David Stern announced that he and his representatives would serve as mediators in an effort to resolve issues related to the debt owed on the Target Center, the Timberwolves home arena. The Timberwolves ownership was seeking a public or private entity to purchase the $73 million remaining on the arena's mortgage, otherwise the team would be sold and in all likelihood moved from Minnesota. Although mediation talks were just beginning to keep the team in place, by the following week it was revealed that ownership had met with representatives from San Diego, Nashville and New Orleans to discuss the potential relocation of the franchise. By late February, New Orleans emerged as the likely city for the team to relocate to if a deal could not be reached to keep the team in Minneapolis. This became the case after the potential ownership group Top Rank signed a letter of intent to purchase the team and move it to New Orleans if debt issues at the Target Center were not resolved.

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