The Atlanta Hawks have announced that Danny Ferry has stepped down as general manager of the team, ending an indefinite leave of absence that began in August following racially derogatory comments he made about free agent Luol Deng.

Investigation into the comments sparked a chain of events, revealing an 2012 email team co-owner Bruce Levenson sent to Ferry and other team owners, citing the team’s lack of season ticket sales and poor game-day attendance on the Hawk’s predominantly black fan base.

In the email, which Levenson said he self-reported, he also denounced comments from “southern whites” who said they didn’t attend Hawks games due to the dangerous area around Philips Arena as “racist garbage.” Ferry then took a leave of absence, and Levenson announced he would sell his share of the Hawks. Sale to a new ownership group was announced in April.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said in a statement Monday announcing the move that Ferry is a "tremendous GM" and that he "is not a racist." Koonin added now that the Hawks have identified new owners, "the resolution of Danny's contract with existing ownership is appropriate."

Ferry, 48, hadn't commented publicly since going on indefinite leave, but said in the Hawks' release that while the year has been "incredibly difficult and humbling, it is critical for me to clear my name and for people to realize that I have always built a culture of respect, diversity, and honesty."

Ferry later told WSB-TV, "I don’t want to minimize the fact that I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have repeated those words. They were harmful and hurtful mainly and especially for Luol, but there was a lot more said on that call and other reports referenced and my personal opinion on Luol, which was very positive both as a player and as a person, were expressed during that call. It’s unfortunate that all those things were not part of all this.”

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, danny ferry