Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

BARCELONA — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver does not believe that Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry should be fired for his racially charged remarks about former free agent Luol Deng, he told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday.

Silver, who just arrived in Barcelona for FIBA World Cup, explained in detail how Ferry's respectable track record and the reality that he was relaying information from a scouting report in his June conference call with owners and basketball operations staffers factor into his decision.

"The discipline of a team employee is typically determined by the team, and in this case the Hawks hired a prestigious Atlanta law firm to investigate the circumstances of Danny Ferry's clearly inappropriate and unacceptable remarks," Silver said. "In my view, those comments, taken alone, do not merit his losing his job.

"It's a question of context ... These words, in this context, understanding the full story here, the existence of the scouting report, the fact that he was looking at the scouting report as a reference when he was making these remarks, what I'm saying is – and frankly my opinion — is that this is a team decision in terms of what the appropriate discipline is for their employee. But if I'm being asked my view, I'm saying that, based on what I know about the circumstances, I don't think it's a terminable offense."

Ferry, who was the general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers for a majority of the first LeBron James era, said in the conference call that Deng "is still a young guy overall. He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way. But he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell your counterfeit stuff out of the back."

The conference call was recorded, according to a letter Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., sent to fellow co-owner Bruce Levenson. In that letter, Gearon wanted Levenson to either demand Ferry's resignation or fire him. An NBA investigator has listened to the recording of the conference call.

The Hawks are known to have disciplined Ferry, but it's unclear what form that punishment took. Silver, quite clearly, views this case far differently than the oft-compared Donald Sterling saga in which the Los Angeles Clippers owner was recorded making racist comments and eventually forced to sell the team.

While the NBA is certainly going to great efforts to be more aware than ever of the racism within its league, it's not about to unofficially develop a one-and-done sort of policy.

Ferry maintains he was using information culled from various internal and external sources to talk about Deng and that those were not his words. His comments triggered an internal investigation which unveiled Levenson's racially-insensitive e-mail sent to Ferry and two other team owners in 2012.

Sunday, Levenson announced he planned to sell his controlling interest in the Hawks and the team released Levenson's e-mail.

Levenson and Ferry both apologized, and Deng released a statement on Tuesday, condemning Ferry's words.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin indicated he has no plans to fire Ferry, and in his statement, Ferry didn't sound like a person ready to resign.

Contributing: Jeff Zillgitt in Washington, D.C.