Looks like there’s more bad news for the Atlanta Hawks. Yesterday, we reported that two Hawks players, Thabo Sefolosha and Pero Antic, were arrested in NYC on charges of obstruction and disorderly conduct in relation to the Chris Copeland stabbing incident. Both players missed Wednesday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets due to their arrests. Well apparently now there’s even more to the story. Somehow, in the midst of all the craziness that went down on Tuesday night, Sefolosha suffered a broken ankle. As a result, he will have to undergo surgery and miss the rest of the NBA season, which includes playoffs.
Sefolosha and Antic were at 1 Oak the night Copeland was stabbed following an altercation. Copeland was laying hurt outside of the club and Sefolosha and Antic pushed through the crowd and the cops to try and check on their friend. The NYPD claimed that in doing so, they prevented cops from setting up the crime scene. The cops tried to arrest the two players for obstruction of justice but they resisted. Sefolosha then got into a fight with the cops, and six officers came over to restrain him. The altercation became violent, with officers grabbing his neck and throwing him to the ground. It appears that Sefolosha broke his ankle during this scuffle with the officers as he was seen limping as he was being taken away.
The Hawks will now be missing one of their best defensive players, on top of the roster already being limited due to injuries to Paul Millsap and Dennis Schroder. Younger players like Kent Bazemore and Austin Daye will have to pick up the slack in Sefolosha’s absence. Otherwise, with playoffs less than two weeks away, this could spell trouble for the team.
Source: CNN, Bleacher Report
