Ferry said on a conference call with minority owners that Deng “has a little African in him” and promoted stereotypes about African heritage. There was a debate about whether those words were Ferry’s own, but, at the end of his day, they still came out of his mouth. (UPDATE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the audio.)
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In a 2002 incident, Ferry was accused of making racist remarks that were his own, SBNation’s Tom Ziller notes. Trail Blazers forward Bonzi Wells spit on Ferry and was suspended for one game. Years later, Wells described that incident to Sacramento Bee columnist Martin McNeal. Wells’ agent, Williams Phillips, recalled Wells explaining the story.
McNeal, who no longer works for The Bee, took to Twitter to state that Ferry’s situation in Atlanta reminded him of the Wells incident.
Wells’ agent, William Phillips said part of that story always gets omitted.
“Ferry (allegedly) called him a (racist name),” Phillips said. “That part of it never gets reported. And Ferry becomes the president of basketball operations."
Ferry did not return a phone call to The Bee.
