Danny Ferry issues statement in regards to Luol Deng comments

Danny Ferry issued a statement early Tuesday morning in regards to the comments made on Luol Deng.

"In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players. I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.

In terms of the email that Bruce sent, the situation is disturbing and disappointing on many levels and I understand Bruce's words were offensive.

I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward."

Ferry maintains that he was "repeating" comments from "numerous sources" and the words were not his alone. By reading this statement, it doesn't sound like a resignation is forthcoming at this time. The NBA had previously said that they had no intention to further discipline Ferry but it will be interesting to see if they get back involved after the full context of his quote from that conference call have gone public.

Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Hawks situation is causing waves across the NBA as other teams are investigating how their own background and scouting reports are assembled.