Report: Aaron joins group interested in Hawks

Baseball legend Hank Aaron has joined a group that is interested in buying the Atlanta Hawks, ESPN.com reported.

According to the report, the former home run king and Atlanta Braves icon has teamed with a group of current owners from the NBA, Major League Soccer and Italian soccer’s storied Serie A.

Sources told ESPN.com that the group is spearheaded by Memphis Grizzlies minority owner and vice chairman Steve Kaplan, Indonesian billionaire sports and media magnates Erick Thohir and Handy Poernomo Soetedjo and former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien, who is the current managing general partner of DC United in MLS.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week that Kaplan and Levian were interested in purchasing the Hawks.

“This is a private process and he’d like the private process to play out,” Allen Tanenbaum, Aaron’s longtime business adviser, told ESPN on Sunday.

The Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena officially went on the market last week in the wake of embarrassing revelations of racially insensitive e-mails and conversations within the organization. The scandals prompted majority owner Bruce Levenson to announce his intention to sell the team in September and led to an indefinite leave of absence for general manager Danny Ferry.

The Journal-Constitution also reported last week that former NBA player Grant Hill and former Toronto Raptors executive Bryan Colangelo are among others interested in buying the Hawks. They have been joined by former NBA player Junior Bridgeman.

Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth’s all-time record by hitting 755 home runs, has spent much of his post-playing career as a baseball executive as well overseeing a business portfolio that has featured numerous car dealerships and restaurants.

According to ESPN, Aaron’s devotion to Atlanta as a city and his longstanding fondness for the Hawks as a basketball fan led him to join the group.