Biggest Winner this Hawks Off-Season? The guy who didn't buy the Hawks

Joe Johnson pulled in 124 million and is secure well beyond his productivity on the basketball court.

Larry Drew finally realized a dream born of many years as a valued assistant on many NBA coaching benches by being named Head Coach of the Hawks.

Jason Collins, after a forgettable season as the de-facto 5th big man on a 53-win playoff team, is chased down by that same team to come back again, guaranteed.

Yup, they all had great off-seasons, but in one final decision today, one man lapped them all. 

Who is it? Why, it's someone who wanted to be a Hawk, but some mean folks wouldn't let him. Now, they must pay.

The situation, which was classic Hawks, made it to #6 on our Decade of Hawks Aughts (and Aught-Nots) earlier this year.

In 2003 AOL/Time Warner was interested in divesting itself of the Hawks, Thrashers, and Philips Arena and looked like they had the person to sell it to---Texas auto dealership tycoon David McDavid. But through a loophole in the letter of intent deal with McDavid, AOL/Time Warner instead sold to a group that was thown together to take advantage of a very small purchasing window, a group that consisted of ownership groups from at least (3) different geographical locations.

McDavid, spurned by the fickle Time Warner/AOL/Turner/WhomeverelsehadtheirhandsintheHawksjar conglomerate, in turn sued the company for breach of contract and he won a 316 million dollar judgement in 2008. Turner appealed the decision but just announced today that they were "putting this behind them" and agreeing to an undisclosed settlement with McDavid.

Money quote:

The jury awarded McDavid $281 million -- nearly three times the $96 million he agreed to pay for the teams and the arena rights -- in December 2008.

So McDavid gets three times what he offered Turner for the teams/arena rights, doesn't have to deal with two flagging (financially speaking, if you believe them) franchises, all without leaving his beloved state of Texas?

Admit it, Joe Johnson, even you are jealous of THAT take this off-season.