Grant Hill buys part of Atlanta Hawks?
Grant Hill now owns part of an NBA team. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports that billionaire Antony Ressler has finalized an agreement to purchase the Atlanta Hawks for more than $800 billion. One of his minority partners is former Duke and NBA star Grant Hill.
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This has been part of the continuing Hawks drama that started when former Duke player and current leave of absence general manager Danny Ferry read comments about former Duke player and current Miami forward Luol Deng. Ferry was reading comments of a racial nature written by a scout, but this was recorded in a conference call.
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Ferry, despite providing the roster for this year’s highly successful Hawks team, went on leave and sought counseling. The Hawks’ process of cleaning up the mess led to the discovery of emails of plurality owner Bruce Levenson that were questionable enough that Levenson agreed to sell his stake in the team. That stake is what Ressler and his group purchased.
The ownership change is not meant to change the Hawks much. The team has plans to retain CEO Steve Koonin. Coach Mike Budenholzer was named Coach of the Year and has the Hawks as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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The only issue is what happens to Ferry. The Hawks have the option to welcome him back or send him off. His connections with Levenson may or may not hurt his chances of return. No one can question that the roster he built has succeeded, with four Hawks on the All-Star team this year.
Hill continues a trend of successful NBA players buying pieces of NBA teams. He joins the ranks of players like Shaquille O’Neal, who owns part of the Sacramento Kings. Of course the king of players turned owners is Charlotte Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan.