According to NBA.com, an Erie franchise and Hawks could be close to finalizing a deal for the next two seasons while Atlanta prepares for a permanent team in Georgia.

The NBA D-League could remain in Erie for at least the next two seasons, according to a national report that emerged during last weekend’s D-League Showcase.

The Atlanta Hawks are close to finalizing a deal to operate a D-League franchise here for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons while awaiting a completion of their permanent facility outside Atlanta in College Park, Georgia, NBA.com writer Scott Howard-Cooper wrote in an online article appearing Sunday.

Reached Monday morning, BayHawks lead local investor Owen McCormick said he was unable to confirm the report.

It remains unclear what the team would be called or who would coach it, although the Erie BayHawks retained their name after majority owner Steve Demetriou agreed last fall to sell the franchise to the Orlando Magic, who will operate it as their own D-League affiliate in Lakeland, Florida, beginning next season.

That move left Erie and the BayHawks with no clear future in the D-League, although a Hawks announcement would ensure the league remains here for two more years, and possibly longer should the Hawks experience delays in starting up their operations in Georgia.

Speculation about the Hawks temporarily running a D-League team in Erie surfaced during the D-League’s Showcase in Mississauga, Ontario. Howard-Cooper mentioned the possibility in an article that also suggested the league is close to another round of announcements about expansion.

Howard-Cooper reported that D-League president Malcolm Turner said the D-League, currently at 22 teams, would add at least two and possibly more teams by next season.

While Turner provided no details, Howard-Cooper said speculation “within D-League circles” is that the Hawks would temporarily move to Erie, with the Wizards locating an expansion team in the Washington D.C. area, the Bucks placing a team somewhere in Wisconsin and the Clippers adding a team in Southern California.

Although details such as the nature of any possible affiliation remain unclear, the BayHawks and Hawks likely would enter into a hybrid agreement splitting the basketball and business operations, similar to the one currently in place between the BayHawks and Magic.

An affiliation between the two organizations likely would benefit from the long-standing relationship among McCormick and current BayHawks management and two members of the Hawks’ front office — general manager Wes Wilcox and director of player personnel John Treloar.

Wilcox was heavily involved the Cleveland Cavaliers’ D-League basketball operations when the Cavaliers were affiliated with the BayHawks from 2008-2011. Treloar coached the BayHawks in 2008 and 2009.

John Dudley can be reached at 870-1677 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNdudley.