Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo recently agreed to purchase a majority interest in the Hawks and the Philips Arena operating rights from the Atlanta Spirit Group.
There now will be one owner making decisions for the Hawks rather than several. But how else will Meruelo's pending ownership of the Hawks be different than ASG's?
Circumstances prevent Meruelo from answering that question in much detail. For one, the sale still must be approved by the NBA's Board of Governors, and an NBA spokesman said he couldn't provide a timetable on the vote.
More than that, though, the owners' lockout of players in a labor dispute muzzles Meruelo. He's not officially an NBA owner yet but already he's faced with the league-wide threat of hefty fines for personnel commenting on league matters.
Once Meruelo officially takes control of the team, he will have some major questions to answer.
How involved will Meruelo be in Hawks' basketball decisions?
Meruelo has said he's “very hands-on” in his business ventures. Meruelo has no background in sports business, though, so there's no track record for how he might handle a basketball franchise.
“We have people that run the [basketball] operations of the Hawks,” Meruelo said. “What I am hoping to do is ...”
Meruelo's advisers, wary of him touching on prohibited subjects, cut him off before he could finish the thought. He will take control of a franchise with a recent history of ownership directly influencing the basketball operation in matters as detailed as playing time, according to people with knowledge of the events.
Those people did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the team's internal deliberations.
During the 2009-10 season, Hawks owners implored then-coach Mike Woodson to give more minutes to rookie guard Jeff Teague and less to All-Star guard Joe Johnson. The owners also wanted Woodson to steer the Hawks away from the isolation-heavy offense, the people knowledgeable of the conversations said.
Woodson didn't do any of those things to the owners' satisfaction, which were major reasons he was not retained after the season. Hawks ownership also heavily influenced the hiring of Woodson's successor, Larry Drew, and the decision to sign Johnson to the richest contract in the league last summer.
What happens to Rick Sund?
Sund, the general manager, is in charge of Atlanta's basketball operations. After last season, ASG picked up the option on Sund's contract for an additional season.
Sund has advanced ASG's philosophy of keeping the team's "core" players intact. If Meruelo decides to radically alter the roster it's possible he would want a different executive to direct those plans.
Meruelo could decide to retain Sund at his current level of power or part ways with him. The new owner also could opt to keep Sund on staff but bring in another executive with greater authority.
Meruelo's background offers few hints as to how he will proceed. Meruelo said he has informal ties to two NBA owners: Robert Sarver of the Phoenix Suns and Michael Heisley of the Memphis Grizzlies.
In Memphis, Heisley consults with general manager Chris Wallace, but Heisley, who had no background in sports when he purchased the Grizzlies, is the head of basketball operations. Last year Sarver adopted an unusual management structure for the Suns in which none of the top three basketball executives had previous experience in their current roles.
How much is Meruelo willing to spend?
As the cost for retaining players on a successful team grew over the years, the Hawks steadily increased their payroll. But ASG told Sund to keep it below the NBA's dollar-for-dollar luxury tax threshold, a mandate that held even after Johnson's contract pushed the payroll to just below that level.
Like ASG, Meruelo could decide that paying the tax is not a sound business decision in this market. It's also not clear how much money Meruelo is willing and able to put into the Hawks.
According to a recent Forbes report, ASG financed 40 percent of the $300 million that Meruelo used to buy an 80-percent stake in the team and arena rights. The report speculated that the structure of the sale could draw extra scrutiny from the league.
However, a person familiar with the deal said NBA lawyers have been involved with the sell process from the start and the deal would have been derailed if there were any major issues. The person did not want to be identified because that person was not authorized to comment publicly on the pending sale.
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