Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry on Friday requested and was granted a leave of absence from the team.
The move with Ferry, announced by Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, came a day after an audio recording of Ferry's June comments on Deng, which included a perceived racial reference, was released by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In a statement, Koonin says: “This afternoon, Danny Ferry requested, and I have approved, taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately. This has been an incredibly difficult time for him and his family and it is my hope that this time away from the Hawks organization allows him the privacy he needs to listen to the community, to learn about his mistakes, and to begin the long process of personal healing. As a human being, manager and friend, I wish him well as he undergoes this process."
Hawks head coach, Mike Budenholzer, will assume oversight of the basketball operations department reporting directly to Koonin.