Two people close to the situation told SI.com that the sale of the Atlanta Hawks is imminent.

One person said that the sale is nearly complete, but did not indicate who the buyer is.

This information is very likely to be a shock to team officials because they did not know that a deal was close to being made as they got ready to make their selections in the NBA draft. SI.com became aware of the deal shortly before the start of the draft, even though the report will probably not have any impact on which players the Hawks choose in the draft.

A statement was released by the Atlanta Spirit stated, “we have spoken with a number of parties, but at this time, there is no deal in place, nor is there an exclusive negotiating agreement in place.” Arthur Triche, spokesman for the Atlanta Hawks, stated that the organization would no longer have any comments about the situation.

In May, the owners of the Hawks sold the Atlanta hockey team, the Thrashers, to an organization that intends to move the team to Winnipeg in 2011. The owners of the Hawks have been searching for minority stakeholders for the team for the last several years.