For this entire week, Danny Ferry and the Atlanta Hawks have been the topic of discussion in the NBA due to the racist comments Ferry made about South Sudanese, Luol Deng.

Luol Deng issued a statement on Wednesday, and he was also contacted by former Chicago Bulls teammate, Kyle Korver, who is currently a member of the Hawks. In his conversation with Korver, Deng said that he did not believe that Ferry or anyone else involved with the Atlanta Hawks was racist. However, Deng was “shocked” that Ferry made those comments.

He told me that he didn’t think that Danny or anyone with the Hawks was racist,” Korver told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He said he was shocked when he heard what was said, but that sometimes things just slip out,” Korver continued.

Luol Deng is being the ultimate professional through all this. In fact, he wants to move forward, focus on basketball, and forget about this whole situation.

It was pretty amazing, really. He just wants everything to move on. He wants to get back to basketball,” add Korver.

Danny Ferry has already been disciplined by the Atlanta Hawks organization and has also taken an indefinite leave of absence. Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer will temporarily take over the head of basketball operations, until Ferry returns.

Even though this situation is yet another embarrassment for the NBA, it is great to know that Ferry is holding himself accountable for his comments, and Luol Deng is being calm and wants to move on from this saga. However, racism definitely has to stop in the NBA and hopefully this is the last time we encounter an incident of this kind. 

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About the author
Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.