Leverage.
Danny Ferry and the Atlanta Hawks have settled on a buyout, but was it amicable or was Ferry prepared to make things uncomfortable to the ASG and the new ownership group?
In the recent ESPN story, a letter has been produced that clears Danny Ferry from being racially biased in the Luol Deng situation.
Another part of that story indicates that it was at the behest of Ferry, as he is set to be bought out from the final three seasons of his contract, that this letter from Alston and Bird was generated.