oversee the sale and screen interested parties -- Goldman Sachs and Inner Circle Sports -- will be meeting directly with groups that have made nonbinding bids to purchase the Hawks.

Binding offers would then follow, with one source telling ESPN.com this week that at least one of the interested groups has made its willingness known to pay in excess of $900 million for the team.

In January, ESPN.com reported that former baseball home run king and Atlanta icon Hank Aaron has joined a group of current owners from the NBA, Major League Soccer and Italian soccer's storied Serie A in pursuing the Hawks. 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, andformer Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien, who is the managing general partner of DC United in Major League Soccer.

‎Also in January, NBA.com and Bloomberg.com reported that former NBA stars Grant Hill and Junior Bridgeman ‎have teamed with USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and son Bryan Colangelo, two-time NBA Executive of the Year, to form another known group bidding on the Hawks.

Rachesky's bid is expected to include a handful of minority investors, including Steve Starker, Randy Frankel and Jesse Itzler, who is a former rapper and recent Atlanta transplant who moved from New York to ‎Georgia last fall.

Sources say that Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins, meanwhile, is also expected to be a prominent member of a bid for the Hawks, though it remains to be seen whether Wilkins plans to join