On Sunday morning the NBA world was shocked to learn the Atlanta Hawks franchise would be sold after a racist e-mail from majority owner Bruce Levenson was uncovered.
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Levenson, who self-reported the e-mail back in July agreed that he would sell off his share of the organization though he wasn’t the only member of the franchise to face punishment in the situation. General manager Danny Ferry is also facing disciplinary action after he read aloud a scouting report to team officials which included a racist remark about then free agent forward Luol Deng.
"Sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne on Monday that the player involved was Miami Heat swingman Luol Deng, who held free-agent discussions with the Hawks in July before signing with the Heat in the wake of LeBron James’ return to Cleveland."
While the exact remark about Luol Deng is unknown, it was bad enough that a team official decided to investigate the comment further which lead to the NBA’s probe.
“This is wrong. This should not be said. It’s not appropriate in any world but not a post-Sterling world,” said the official.
Why exactly Ferry would decide to verbally state what was ever in the scouting report (why was it there in the first place) is beyond comprehension, especially considering it appears to be rather derogatory and he should know better.
The nature of Ferry’s discipline is currently not known though Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin will run the franchise until the situation is given more clarity.