The night Chris Copeland was stabbed outside of a New York City nightclub, Atlanta Hawks swingman Thabo Sefolosha suffered a fractured tibia, which the player says was at the hands of a police officer.
While we wait for the facts to trickle out, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith noted Wednesday that NBA players are waiting for everything to come out before taking action, but that they are prepared to stand with Sefolosha.
From ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike:
"Speaking to several players, they pointed out Trayvon Martin. The whole situation that happened with him in Florida and how you had Miami Heat players putting on hoodies to bring attention to that particular issue. You've got the whole Michael Brown situation in Ferguson, Missouri. You had guys wearing t-shits, "Hands Up," and what have you. Whether it be Derrick Rose, LeBron James, the entire Lakers roster and beyond. Then obviously the situation with Eric Garner in Harlem with the police officer and how he ended up essentially being strangled in the eyes of a lot of people in the black community...
"The players reached out to me and essentially said to me, "If we were willing to bring attention to those issues, how do you feel we're going to react if we find out one of our own was harmed physically because of an excessive use of force." It's irresponsible to point the finger at the police department without knowing all of the facts and certainly nobody is here to do all that...
"This situation is not going away, they're going to put forth their due diligence to find out all the facts as it pertains to this case and if this indeed involved excessive use of force. It's one thing when you're dealing with the community at large, it's another thing entirely when you're talking about the National Basketball Association that is over 75 percent black that is obviously had the history it has had with the Donald Sterlings of the world and others. Then you take into account some of the social issues that have taken place in our society pertaining to young black males. They're taking this issue very seriously because now it is one of their own. These are a bunch of millionaires that are going to be on a mission to find out exactly what transpired."
We'll continue to track this story as more information becomes available.
