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Danny Ferry allegedly used n-word on court in 2002

Sam Forencich / Getty

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that he does not believe Danny Ferry's comments regarding Luol Deng merit Ferry's termination, but it is worth noting that Ferry was allegedly involved in a racism-related issue on the court over a decade ago.

During a 2002 game between Ferry's Spurs and the Trail Blazers, Portland's Bonzi Wells spit in Ferry's face following a verbal altercation and was suspended one game because of it. According to Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune, Ferry told his then-teammates that Wells had called him a "honkie," with an expletive preceding the racial slur.

Martin McNeil of The Sacramento Bee later reported, however, that Wells’ agent claimed Ferry called Wells the N-word.

Via Can't Stop The Bleeding:

Then there was an incident while with the Blazers when Wells spit on Ferry, now the Cleveland Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations.

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."

With Ferry's remarks about Deng, which reportedly led to the investigation that discovered Hawks owner Bruce Levenson's offensive email, dominating NBA headlines this week, McNeil once again brought up Wells' allegation against Ferry.

It's doubtful that anything will come of a 12-year-old, "he-said, he-said" situation, but people also might not be so quick to dismiss this story in light of recent events in Atlanta.

(H/T Pro Basketball Talk)

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