After his part in the racist audio tape leaks from last fall, former Hawks GM Danny Ferry was demoted to administrative paid leave for the whole season.
According to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks have finally let Ferry go and have promoted coach Mike Budenholzer in the process. Budenholzer will now takeover as both coach and team President, sharing front office duties with newly appointed GM Wes Wilcox.
But there’s still negotiations ahead, via Yahoo:
The Hawks’ new ownership group, led by Tony Ressler, cannot negotiate those agreements until the NBA’s Board of Governors approves the sale to Ressler at a meeting on June 24 in New York. Once Ressler’s group – which includes Rick Schnall, Sara Blakely and Jesse Itzler – takes over, its first order of business will be to negotiate contracts with Budenholzer and Wilcox, league sources said.
Budenholzer was the NBA’s coach of the year in 2014-15, leading the Hawks to a 60-22 record and the Eastern Conference finals. With Ferry, Wilcox was instrumental in constructing an innovative roster that achieved at a high level despite still staying several million dollars below the salary cap.
After the Hawks’ brilliant last season, this was definitely the right move.