Court records reviewed by ESPN reveal that Sarkar was terminated and arrested in March after allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including "strategic NBA information," from a Timberwolves team executive.

Sarkar, who served as a coaching analyst for the Timberwolves, was also facing a felony third-degree burglary charge. However, this charge will be dismissed during his sentencing on July 9, as confirmed by an official from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minneapolis.

Following Sarkar's guilty plea, his attorney declined to comment on the matter. The Minnesota Timberwolves issued a statement, stating that they would not be commenting on legal proceedings related to former employees. Previously, it was reported that the team would not pursue criminal charges against Sarkar.

The incident took place when Sachin Gupta, a Timberwolves executive vice president overseeing the team's analytics department, left a hard drive containing his personal financial information and sensitive team data, including employment and player contracts, connected to a laptop in his office at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis on February 2.

Upon returning to work on February 5, Gupta discovered that the hard drive was missing. Subsequent security surveillance reviewed by the team revealed that Sarkar had entered Gupta's office twice on February 3 while attempting not to be seen. Following these findings, Sarkar was immediately terminated.

Another employee was able to retrieve the hard drive from Sarkar, and a forensic analysis confirmed that Sarkar had accessed over 5,000 files and downloaded them onto another device. Sarkar was subsequently arrested, and police executed a search warrant at his residence, where they discovered several hard drives, a computer, and three tablets. One of the devices was found to contain information from Gupta's missing hard drive.

During police questioning, Sarkar claimed that, as a member of the coaching staff, he had taken the hard drive "to put some stuff on it" but had forgotten to return it. The complaint against Sarkar also noted that he had been transferred out of Gupta's department in August 2023 due to poor job performance.

According to Sarkar's LinkedIn profile, he joined the Timberwolves in August 2021 and had previously held analytics-related roles with the New York Knicks and the New Orleans Pelicans. Additionally, he worked as a basketball operations intern for the Houston Rockets from October 2012 to June 2013.

As the legal proceedings continue, the repercussions of Sarkar's actions highlight the importance of safeguarding sensitive information within professional sports organizations. The Timberwolves and the NBA are likely to implement stricter security measures to prevent such incidents in the future.