NBA not actively investigating source of Luol Deng ‘African’ comment, according to report

The NBA is not actively seeking to identify and discipline the scout who made the racially insensitive comments read by Danny Ferry that sparked one of the biggest NBA controversies this offseason, according to Jason Lloyd of Ohio.com.

The league is attributing the comments, which were directed at prospective free agent Luol Deng, to a former member of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office and is seemingly content knowing this person no longer works for the organization. The NBA reportedly has looked into who wrote the comments Ferry infamously read off on a conference call with ownership, but it isn’t involved in an ‘active investigation.’

The comments on Deng were the onset for a franchise-wide investigation that will ultimately cost Hawks owner Bruce Levenson his stake in the franchise. Ferry has taken a leave of absence for reading the comments aloud on the recorded conference call with no hint on when he might return to his post as Atlanta’s GM.

The controversy started when minority owner Michael Gearon Jr. asked for Ferry’s resignation after hearing the comments made about Deng. Ferry, while reading from a scouting reported authored by an unknown source, said Deng had “a little African in him” and depicted the veteran small forward as deceitful and insincere.

Those comments led to a franchise-wide investigation that uncovered a 2012 email sent by Levenson on the demographics of the Hawks’ attendance issues. The contents of the email were racially insensitive and after a meeting with members of the league office, Levenson agreed to sell his share of the team.

One big question remains: Who wrote the comments that were read off by Ferry? With the league reportedly uninterested in finding that out, we may never know.