Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry will take an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The news comes one day after an audio clip surfaced of the racially insensitive remarks he made about Miami Heat forward Luol Deng during a conference call in June.
Ferry, whom both the league office and the team declined to terminate, requested a leave of absence from the team on Friday.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin released the following statement on the team website:
"This afternoon, Danny Ferry requested, and I have approved, taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately. This has been an incredibly difficult time for him and his family and it is my hope that this time away from the Hawks organization allows him the privacy he needs to listen to the community, to learn about his mistakes, and to begin the long process of personal healing. As a human being, manager and friend, I wish him well as he undergoes this process.
"While the issues related to race are deeply troubling, at the heart of this dispute is an unfortunate disagreement amongst owners. That said, we have taken several steps to address what we can do as an organization to be better and stronger, including working with a diversity consultant to examine us and to train us to ensure something like this never happens again, we are committed to hiring a Chief Diversity Officer, and we have and will continue to meet with community leaders in an ongoing way to ensure our values reflect the community in which we play and work."
Koonin said coach Mike Budenholzer would oversee the basketball operations in the interim, and the process of selling owner Bruce Levenson's majority share of the team was underway.
Listen to the audio tape of Ferry discussing Deng HERE.
