Atlanta Hawks president Danny Ferry has apologised for racial remarks regarding the African heritage of Britain's Luol Deng, comments that led to him being disciplined.
Hawks chief executive Steve Koonin imposed the private punishment on Ferry for comments made in a June conference call as the team was considering possible free agents, including Deng.
Ferry said Deng "has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back".
According to a June letter by Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon obtained by Atlanta television station WSB, Ferry also described Deng as a "two-faced liar and cheat".
The comments became public on Monday because they led to an investigation that uncovered a 2012 email with racist remarks by Hawks owner Barry Levenson, one that has prompted him to sell the team.
Gearon asked for Ferry's firing or resignation in the letter but neither took place and Ferry's apology indicated he plans to remain with the Hawks even as the NBA looks to sell the club.
Levenson decided to sell rather than suffer through a drama such as the one faced by the Los Angeles Clippers in recent months when former owner Donald Sterling was banned for life from the league and battled a sale of the team that eventually went through for a record $US2 billion ($A2.16 billion).
Ferry, hired two years ago by the Hawks, said he was only reading the words of others who made judgements about Deng when he made the comments in the telephone call.
"Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it," Ferry said in a statement.
"I apologise to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning. I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation.
"I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organisation, one that our players and fans will be proud of on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward."
Gearon pushed for an investigation into racism within the Hawks after hearing Ferry's comments about Deng, who was born in what is now South Sudan and who eventually signed with the Miami Heat.
Gearon said he considers Ferry's comments far worse than those that led to Sterling being banned for life by the league.
"We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterling's because they were not from a private personal conversation. They were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people," Gearon wrote.
"If Ferry would have made such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals."
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