"He's a good guy overall, but he's not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way, other than...."
By now, most of the world has heard about Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry offering a racially-charged description of Luol Deng during a meeting with team officials on the prospective free agent forward. Now, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has uncovered the audio.
Fallout from comments
In the recording, you can hear Ferry speaking about Deng, with Atlanta ownership laughing in the background. Ownership interjects once Ferry first references to Deng's heritage, and says "That comment was Sterling. That's going to be on TMZ tomorrow."
Ferry continued: "He has a store front out front that's beautiful and great, but he may be selling some counterfeit stuff behind you. And when I say that, I mean for example he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story, and two days later come out and say that was absolutely not me, I can't believe someone said that.
"He could be the lawyer in the locker room when the coach is not around, but when the coach is around he's the greatest guy in the world."
Ferry and Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson have come under fire since reports of the GM's description of Deng and Levenson's 2012 email detailing attendance demographics have become public. The NBA has reportedly heard the audio, but commissioner Adam Silver maintained he did not believe Ferry should be fired. Silver also called the tape "inappropriate and unacceptable."