Danny Ferry reached out to Hakeem Olajuwon in an effort to apologize for the racially inflammatory remarks that have led the Hawks general manager to take an indefinite leave of absence.
Olajuwon told the Houston Chronicle the Ferry reached out to NBA Vice President for Development in Africa Amadou Gallo Fall and asked to speak with Olajuwon. The Rockets great, who is the NBA ambassador to Africa, said there was no need to apologize.
“He’s been calling all the players to apologize,” Olajuwon told the newspaper. “As you know, it was a surprise that kind of comment is still in mind. Those were not his words. He did not mean it. He was repeating something. I did not know what he meant. I don’t know what someone was thinking to say that. But those are not his words.
“He called Amadou to get my number. I told him, ‘There’s no need.’ I thought about it. He’s trying to rebound, to recover.”
Ferry asked for and was placed on the leave after he said free agent and Sudan native Luol Deng “has got some African in him” during a conference call with ownership and management. Ferry said he was reading from a background report.
Ferry received support from Hawks players during the team’s media day Monday. He also recently received support from Thunder forward Serge Ibaka. The Congo native spoke to the Oklahoman about the issue this week.
“Everybody make mistake,” Ibaka told the paper. “I think it was a mistake and we understand. It happened, a mistake, only thing we can do is learn from that and move on.”
There remains no timetable for his return, a decision that may well be made by the Hawks’ new owner. The controlling interest in the franchise is up for sale after co-owner Bruce Levenson sent a racially inflammatory email about the makeup of the Hawks fan base and game operations staff in 2012 that was discovered as part on an investigation into Ferry’s comments.
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