The Atlanta Hawks organization has been under fire for the past weeks after offensive comments from owner Bruce Levenson and general manager Danny Ferry. New York Knicks star commented on the situation Saturday, saying free agents won't want to sign with the Hawks after hearing the statements.
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"[There] ain't nobody [who] would want to go there," Anthony said Saturday at the Citi Carmelo Anthony Basketball camp in Manhattan, according to ESPN. "At the end of the day, Atlanta, I think it puts Atlanta back even further now, from that standpoint. Atlanta is a great city, a great market, great people, great atmosphere. But as far as the comments [that] were made, I think it was uncalled for. From an owner, from a GM, those are not things you play with."
Levenson announced last week that he will sell his controlling interest in the team after self-reporting an email he wrote in August 2012 that contained racially offensive comments. He made the league aware of the email in July and an independent investigation was started. In a statement, Levenson said the email he sent to co-owners and Ferry was about how to increase fan attendance at Hawks games and ways to improve Atlanta's racial sports divide.
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Ferry came under fire this week when it was reported that he referred to then-free agent Luol Deng as someone who "has a little African in him." Ferry announced he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately.
"He's like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back," Ferry said while reading a scouting report on a conference call, which was recorded.
Anthony said he believes those comments will remove Atlanta from the running to sign any free agents in the future.
"As a player, as an athlete, we're looking for a job, we're trying to find a place where we can move our family, we can make our family comfortable, where we can be comfortable in a comfortable environment," Anthony said. "But those comments right there, we would never look at [playing there]. I'm speaking on behalf of all athletes. We would never look at a situation like that, I don't care what it is."
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