The Atlanta Hawks’ growing reputation for cheap fouls comes as no surprise to people who’ve done business with the NBA team’s billionaire owner, The Post has learned.
Private equity chief Antony Ressler, who bought the Hawks in 2015 with a group of investors for $850 million, has been developing a reputation in financial circles for the same unsportsmanlike tactics that had NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio accusing Hawks point guard Trae Young of “hunting fouls” following the team’s victory over the NY Knicks on Sunday, sources said.
Some lenders say just the mention of Ares Management — the $207 billion private equity firm Ressler founded in 1997 while working with his financier brother-in-law Leon Black — is enough to send chills down their spines.
“They are as aggressive as you can be,” one distressed lender said. “They take their straw and stick it in someone else’s milkshake. It’s blood sport.”
And it could come back to haunt them with some lenders telling The Post they want to stay clear of Ares deals for fear of getting shafted.
“Ares could get locked out of LBO financings,” claimed one lender involved in a lawsuit against Ares. “What they are doing
