Knight, Hawks stuck in trade limbo
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
As the Atlanta Thrashers showed off their big free-agent signee Thursday, the Atlanta Hawks and their would-be new star were still in trade limbo.
On Tuesday, when the Thrashers first announced they had signed center Bobby Holik, the Hawks made first mention of a "procedural issue" that was holding up a sign-and-trade deal to send guard Joe Johnson from Phoenix to Atlanta.
Since both teams are owned by the same Atlanta Spirit LLC group, two owners _ Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon Jr. _ and chief executive officer Bernie Mullin couldn't avoid questions about the Hawks at the Thrashers' news conference Thursday.
The Thrashers moved quickly to sign Holik while the Hawks are left in limbo in their pursuit of Johnson. The contrast of the two deals left the impression that Hawks general manager Billy Knight doesn't enjoy the same support from the ownership group as does Thrashers general manager Don Waddell.
Also, no one willing to speak about the Johnson deal would deny that one owner _ Steve Belkin _ is not on the same page with the rest of the group.
Mullin acknowledged that having Knight appear to lack Belkin's support is not good for the Hawks' chances of dealing with other free agents.
"Obviously, it's a concern at this point in time," Mullin said. "It's not a concern in the long term."
Added Mullin: "Management is 100 percent behind Billy Knight as is clearly the overwhelming majority of the ownership group."
The "overwhelming majority" does not include Belkin, the NBA governor in the ownership group and the man who must sign off on all deals.
Belkin did not attend Thursday's news conference and did not return a phone message.
Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche said Knight had no comment on the trade Thursday.
Levenson conceded that the breakdown in the trade talks "is not the way I would script it."
"I would be happy today if Joe Johnson were an Atlanta Hawk today, but we are working as hard as we can to make that happen," Levenson said.
Belkin may be concerned the Hawks are giving up to much to obtain Johnson, who would sign a five-year, $69.6 million contract with Phoenix that would include a 2005-06 salary of about $20 million. The contract would be traded to the Hawks, who would give up two first-round picks, second-year guard Boris Diaw and a $4.9 million trade exception.
Johnson, 24, would become the Hawks' highest-paid player.
Johnson averaged 17.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists as a combo guard with the Suns last season. With Atlanta, he likely would be the starting point guard.
Levenson and Gearon said they expect the logjam will be settled soon and the trade will go through.
"Yes, I really think it's going to get done," Levenson said, adding "This is a bump in the road."
Said Gearon: "Am I confident? Yeah, I am confident. We'll see. I think we'll work through it."
Belkin, based in Boston, holds a 30 percent stake in the Atlanta Spirit LLC ownership group. The Washington-based owners, including Levenson and Ed Peskowitz, own 40 percent. The Atlanta-based owners, including Gearon and Rutherford Seydel, own 30 percent.
"We have a partnership agreement and we have an agreement with the NBA that governs how we operate," Levenson said. "Those agreements make sure that we do our business, and we're doing our business. It doesn't mean that every bit of business will be done as perfectly as we'd like to get done, but we'll get it done."
