Mayor, City to be involved in Atlanta Hawks' sale

Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed spoke to the media on Tuesday about the controversy surrounding the Atlanta Hawks and indicated that the city would be involved in the selling process. Reed also said that he had spoken with six potential buyers and also shed some light on the Hawks current ownership situation.

According to Reed, Bruce Levenson owns 24 percent of the Hawks individually. Together with his partners Ed Peskowitz, who will also sell, and Todd Foreman the Washington group owns 50.1 percent. Reed said the Atlanta contingent of Michael Gearon Jr. and Sr. and Rutherford Seydel intend to keep their stake in the team.

From Reed's statement, the Hawks will be getting a new controlling owner but won't be getting the complete fresh start that many had hoped.

A large portion of Reed's talk centered on the issue of selling the team to an owner that is focused on keeping the Hawks in Atlanta. He hinted at the city providing assistance to make sure that happens but stopped short of outlining what that "assistance" might actually consist of. Reed also refused to name any of the six potential buyers. Reed will meet with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver later this month to further discuss the sale of the team.

The storm clouds seem to be breaking and the process of finding a new owner is getting underway. Still this is a situation that continues to develop and it may be some time before we see the finish line.