NBA Players Reaction To Devastating Thabo Sefolosha Injury by NYPD

The playoffs are coming up Saturday night. The Atlanta Hawks are the number 1 team to beat in the East Conference as they are the number one seed. The Hawks will be without player Thabo Sefolosha who will be recovering from a devastating broken leg injury he claims came from the result of overly aggressive New York police officers. The details led to Sefolosha's season ending injury will not be settled until the situation reaches the court of law. Sefolosha was at a nightclub in the Chelsea area of New York. A healthy and contributing member of the Number 1 seed Atlanta Hawks damaged goods after a video showed five New York police officers wrestling him to the ground and another beating down his lower body with a baton. ------- LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers had to say this, "It's an unfortunate event for sure." The NBA, and NYPD internal affairs office are looking into the incident which came after Indiana Pacer forward Chris Copeland was stabbed outside a nightclub the Chelsea area of New York. "Really disappointed with what happen to Thabo. Obviously, police, they have a dangerous job to do. Sefolosha is a big guy compared to normal people and probably some of those police officers. So if he did anything to warrant that, that's one thing. But the stories that we get, he didn't do anything to warrant that. I understand that they have a scary job to do and they want to use force to make sure they get home at night. It's understandable, but somebody in that group had to know that was Thabo Sefolosha. Somebody knew in that crew knew that was an NBA player. I feel like it's another way it could've been handled." Says Washington Wizards forward Rasual Butler. Butler would like to see more NBA players speak out on behalf of Sefolosha, who faces six months of rehabilitation while his team attempts to win an NBA Championship with out him. Sefolosha's injury came only moments after Copeland and a female friend were slashed in a early April 8th morning. In addition to knife wounds to his left elbow and abdomen, Copeland also sustained a broken elbow and a fractured rib in the fracas. ------- James, his first season as vice president of the players' union, said he takes security with him when he socializes but does everything in his power to avoid trouble. "I don't bother nobody. I have a good time, just like everyone else. I stay to myself, I'm not the last to one to leave. I always leave before everybody else and I'm very responsible. I understand the target that we have on our backs as athletes and as professional athletes and the jealousy that comes from that sometimes when you're out. So you got to be as responsible as possible and that's what teams have security for, too. You have security, those guys should be with us when we're out in public and buffer those things away from us."