Former Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry could return to the front office, and he could even get a titular promotion.
The Hawks hired outside firm Sportsology to help conduct their search for the team’s next president of basketball operations, a role that was vacated when Travis Schlenk stepped down in 2022 and was essentially filled by now-former general manager Landry Fields before he was fired.
In the wake of that, Ferry has been linked back to the Hawks.
“Per multiple NBA league sources… the Atlanta Hawks are casting a very wide net in their search for a team president,” WSB’s Zach Klein reported on X on May 2. “One name is very familiar to Hawks fans…. former GM Danny Ferry.
“Ferry will interview for the job along with Monte McNair, Calvin Booth, Shareef Abur-Rahim and Elton Brand among others.”
Ferry’s Hawks went 82-82 in two seasons, winning 44 games in his first season.
Former Hawks GM left organization after 'racially charged' remarks
The Hawks went 38-44 in Ferry’s second campaign, but that was the least of the issues encountered with the exec. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin disciplined Ferry following an investigation into the latter, who was accused of sharing “racially charged” comments about Luol Deng.
“A letter from co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. recommends that Ferry resign or be fired. Gearon cites Ferry telling the ownership group that Deng ‘has a little African in him,’” the Associated Press wrote in September 2014. “His June 12 letter to co-owner Bruce Levenson said Ferry went on to say, ‘Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.
“Added Gearon: ‘Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.’”
An outside law firm sorted through “24,000 documents” and “conducted 19 interviews” regarding any electronic communications from Ferry during his time as Hawks GM. Notably, Garon, who died in December 2021, wanted to fire Ferry at the time.
Koonin, who remains in the same role with the Hawks, did not.
He remained on through the ensuing ownership change in 2015, in which a group led by current governor Anthony Ressler assumed control.
Koonin never disclosed what Ferry’s punishment was, and the potential next Hawks president stepped down from his role in June 2015. The Hawks and Ferry agreed to a buyout following the audio of the executive’s comments regarding Deng.
Ferry said in a statement at the time that he had “mixed emotions” about the decision.
He was happy that both sides would be able to move on. He landed a consulting role with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2016, but was part of sweeping changes in 2019.
A return to the Hawks would be his official return to an NBA front office. It would also be reinserting him into a metropolitan area with the second-largest African-American population in the nation, behind only New York City, per Pew Research Center in January.
According to Pew in 2022, the area ranked fourth in terms of population of black immigrants.
Six of the top-10 nations represented in the study came from the African continent. Of all the changes the Hawks have made or are pondering, this threatens to be the most inflammatory.
However, with the “wide net” approach, which the Hawks notably took under Fields before selecting Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, indicates a decision is not exactly coming soon.