Report: Lionsgate chairman Mark Rachesky emerges as latest Hawks bidder

On the day they became the first NBA team this season to clinch a playoff berth, the for-sale Atlanta Hawks saw another potential buyer come out of the woodwork. 

ESPN's Marc Stein reports that Lionsgate Entertainment chairman Mark Rachesky has emerged as the most recent bidder for the Hawks, whose perceived valuation seems to be rising as steadily as their staggering win total. 

According to Stein, sources indicated this week that at least one of the prospective ownership groups has declared its willingness to pay in excess of $900 million for the team.

Over the new two weeks, representatives from Goldman Sachs and Inner Circle Sports - the companies enlisted by the Hawks' outgoing ownership group to oversee the sale - will reportedly begin meeting with all the groups that have made non-binding bids to purchase the franchise, with binding offers to follow. 

According to Stein's sources, Rachesky - ‎who also  runs the investment firm MHR Fund Management - is a close friend of Atlanta Braves principal owner John Malone, which is reportedly what sparked Rachesky's interest in the Hawks.

The Hawks have effectively been on the market since early September, when owner Bruce Levenson outed himsef as the author of an insensitive email about the team's African-American fan base, and voluntarily put his majority stake up for sale. The team's remaining stakeholders soon followed suit, and a 100 percent sale was initiated in early January. 

The city of Atlanta pledged to aid with the sale, but mayor Kasim Reed's initial hope that a new ownership group would be in place by the end of 2014 turned out to be a pipe dream. 

According to Stein, groups and individuals involved in the bidding, along with the team's outgoing ownership, were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements, thus prohibiting them from publicly commenting on the sale process.