The fallout around the Atlanta Hawks continues.
During a recent internal investigation of the Hawks it was found that back in 2012 majority owner Bruce Levenson sent a rambling, crass email to other members of the Hawks front office and business side discussing ways to bring in more fans to Hawks, games, specifically white fans. He said he thought the black crowd at the games was scaring off the white fan base that would buy season seats. Levenson himself called the email “inappropriate and offensive” in his statement Sunday where he said he will sell his share of the team. (At a huge profit we should add, he basically gets a golden parachute out of this mess.)
The Hawks CEO told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that there were other incidents out of that investigation that would lead to punishments, and that includes team GM Danny Ferry.Sunday night, Hawks co-owner and CEO Steve Koonin said other disciplinary action will be taken, including against general manager Danny Ferry….
According to Koonin, the Hawks held a meeting in early June to discuss free agency. At that meeting, a player was being discussed and Ferry cited a background report that included an “offensive and racist” remark.
“Instead of editing it, he said the comment,” Koonin said.
That’s what is going to land Ferry with some kind of punishment, which will be internal and not made public.
This is the NBA walking on eggshells in a post-Sterling world. It is why other owners are concerned — they don’t want to see themselves or their guys next on this slippery slope. But that also doesn’t make it wrong — there should be a zero-tolerance policy towards bigoted comments and actions.
What that means is there will be more fallout from around the league. And with the Hawks.