Minneapolis, Minnesota – A former Minnesota Timberwolves employee has been fired, arrested, and charged with felony third-degree burglary for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including confidential NBA information, from a team executive. Somak Sarkar, 33, who previously worked as a coaching analyst for the Timberwolves, is currently in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday afternoon.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday and obtained by sources, the incident occurred on February 2 when Sachin Gupta, a Timberwolves executive vice president overseeing the team’s analytics department, reported a missing hard drive containing personal and team-related information. Surveillance footage revealed that Sarkar had entered Gupta’s office twice on February 3 before eventually leaving with the hard drive.
The team took swift action by firing Sarkar immediately after discovering the theft. Another employee managed to recover the hard drive, and after a forensic analysis, it was determined that Sarkar had accessed over 5,000 files and downloaded them onto another device.
Following his arrest on Monday, a search warrant executed at Sarkar’s residence led to the discovery of several hard drives, a computer, and three tablets. One of the devices contained information from Gupta’s missing hard drive. When questioned by authorities, Sarkar claimed he had taken the hard drive to upload some materials as a member of the coaching staff but had forgotten to return it.
Sarkar had been moved to the coaching staff in August 2023 due to poor performance in Gupta’s department. His LinkedIn profile shows previous roles in analytics-related positions with the New York Knicks, New Orleans Pelicans, and as a basketball operations intern for the Houston Rockets.
Although the Timberwolves have declined to comment further on the situation, sources indicate that the team does not plan to pursue criminal charges. As the case unfolds, details surrounding the extent of the information breach and its potential impact on the organization are likely to come to light during Sarkar’s court hearing.