Luol Deng scouting remark 'not from our team'

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sheds a little more light on the background report that included an insensitive racial comment about Luol Deng. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin told the AJC that the team was not in position to discipline the author of the report and that they did not work for the organization.

"It was not from our team," Koonin said. "It was word of mouth. It was background information. Something was shared with Danny that was shared with the group."

Ferry read the report aloud to a group of team officials during a conference call in regards to free agency. Ferry chose not self edit the comment as he read but this is the clearest indication we have in regards to where the background report came from. The comment referred to Deng's African heritage.

"He's still a young guy overall," Ferry said, league sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Yahoo. "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."

The Hawks launched an internal investigation and disciplined Ferry internally on the matter. The AJC also reports that the NBA has "no plans" to further discipline Ferry.