Danny Ferry Audio on Luol Deng Emerges [UPDATE]

Danny Ferry’s comments about Luol Deng, in which he was supposedly repeating a scouting report, have been released by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and, to me, the tone sounds worse than the words may have seemed writing. (Not that they looked wonderful in the first place.)

“He has a little African in him,” Ferry said, via Pro Basketball Talk. “Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out the back….. For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, ‘That absolutely was not me. I can’t believe someone said that.’ But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it].”

It sounds like there’s a voice in the background saying that the audio would end up on TMZ.

Yesterday, Adam Silver told USA Today’s Sam Amick that he did not believe Ferry should be fired for the remarks. The whole scandal has been largely overshadowed by the NFL fiasco this week, but this audio may well cost Ferry the Hawks GM job.

UPDATE: The Hawks have announced that Danny Ferry will take an indefinite leave of absence.