Danny Ferry, a key architect to the Hawks’ current run of success, is returning to the NBA.
Ferry, a former president and general manager of the Hawks, joined the New Orleans Pelicans as a special advisor to the Pelicans’ basketball operations staff, team GM Dell Demps announced Wednesday.
Ferry joined the Hawks in 2012 and remained until his contact was bought out in June 2015. Ferry had been on an indefinite leave of absence since September 2014 after the disclosure of controversial statements Ferry made during a conference call the previous June with team ownership and management.
Ferry was reading a scouting report on Luol Deng, who became a free agent that offseason, and read racially insenstive remarks about Deng, instead of choosing not to read them.
In June 2015, the AJC obtained copies of letters written to Ferry by the law firm Alston and Bird, who conducted an investigation into the matter the previous June, and from co-owner Todd Foreman. Those letters cleared Ferry of racial bias.
Ferry’s moves as a Hawks executive provided the foundation for the Hawks teams that finished 60-22 last season and 48-34 this season.