Charles Grantham severed as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association from 1978 until 1995 had some interesting opinions about the issues that have faced the Atlanta Hawks in regards to race.

“When you have an entire white ownership without anyone in that room giving a different opinion, this is what you come up with,” he said. “The question is what is the sanctity of the agreement you have with the players in regards to free agency. A free agent who has paid his dues is entitled to a marketplace that has determined his value based on his ability. What we see now potentially is a grievable subject here because now I’m wondering if this was a centralized scouting report that everybody in the league had access to. We’re tainting the market for this young man.

“An apology is great but this is a grievable moment if I am standing on the other side, because it may lead to an unfair labor charge.”

The Hawks have four African-Americans in their front office with the highest-ranking being David Lee, who is senior vice president of external affairs.

Grantham would like the situations of Danny Ferry and Bruce Levenson result in change rather than a banishment.

“We have to figure out a way to deal with them directly, and in an actionable way,” he said. “Part of the action that I think is necessary in all these leagues, as long as you have an ownership that’s going to be 99 percent white, how do we integrate these types of staffs and situations? Until I see more [diversity], we’re not going to change the attitude because we haven’t changed the action. Which one do you want?”