For some mysterious reason, the city of Atlanta has long been an attractive destination for wealthy and upwardly mobile blacks to move to, but the Atlanta Hawks cannot seem to attract a single NBA star to come to the team, despite the fact the National Basketball Association is more than 80 percent black.
Dominique Wilkins was the Hawks last great transcendent superstar, but he was the team’s first-round draft pick in 1982 and was unceremoniously booted from the team over 20 years ago.
The Hawks’ inability to field a team full of stars, like the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics were able to do, is baffling to most basketball fans and sports pundits alike.
Exacerbating their dilemma is the racial debacle that erupted last week after it was learned that both Hawks owner Bruce Levenson and general manager Danny Ferry both went off on highly inflammatory racial rants. As been reported by Atlanta Daily World, Levenson complained bitterly about the overwhelmingly black fan base and how they are allegedly scaring away the white fan base, while Ferry broad-brushed the entire continent of Africa to describe an unlikable trait in star Loul Deng.
Because of this, NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony believes the team will have an even harder time getting anyone to come to the ATL, much less keep the players they have.
“Nobody would want to play there,” Anthony said while referring to players’ unwillingness to sign with the team. “I think it was uncalled for. From an owner, from a GM, those are not things you play with. As a player, we’re looking for a job, we’re trying to find a place where we can move our family, where we can make our family comfortable. But those comments right there, we would never look at the franchise. I’m speaking on behalf of all athletes. We would never look at a situation like that.”
Levenson was reportedly forced to put the Hawks up for sale after he was outted. Ferry asked for an indefinite leave of absence, which mostly likely means that he will never step foot inside the franchise’s doors ever again. He will also have a difficult time finding employment in the same capacity with another NBA franchise seeing that the league is predominantly black.
Ironically, Dominique Wilkins, who is now in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame and does color commentary for the Hawks games, is fronting a group who is interested in purchasing the beleaguered and embattled Hawks.
Most surprisingly, none of the current Haws players have uttered a single syllable publicly about the racial fracas surrounding the team.