Just as the Atlanta Hawks were rounding into form, they’ve now lost Thabo Sefolosha for the year. The defensive wing broke his ankle while ensnared with police Wednesday morning as part of the Chris Copeland stabbing outside of New York City nightclub 1OAK.
Atlanta's Thabo Sefolosha has been diagnosed with a broken ankle from NYPD incident early Wednesday, out for season, sources tell RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 9, 2015
More specifically, Thabo Sefolosha has sustained a fractured tibia in his leg, league sources tell RealGM. MRIs ongoing on other damages.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 9, 2015
Sefolosha, along with Pero Antic, were arrested early Wednesday morning after allegedly preventing police from setting up a crime scene. According to the officer’s report, Sefolosha refused to leave the scene despite numerous requests.
“When I approached the defendant to place him under arrest for the above described conduct, I observed the defendant flail his arms, twist his body, kick his legs, and struggle against me making it difficult for me to place handcuffs on him and complete the arrest. It took four officers to place the defendant in handcuffs.”
Sefolosha’s importance to the Hawks is extremely understated, and this is a big blow to the East’s number one seed. Sefolosha sported the team’s third best net rating at plus-10.3. The team survived during his absence earlier in the year, but that was the regular season. In the playoffs – more specifically, a likely seven-game series against the Cleveland Cavaliers – the Hawks need Sefolosha to guard the other team’s best perimeter offensive player every night. Now that duty falls to DeMarre Carroll, himself an able defender, and Kent Bazemore, who emerged as a capable defensive backup while Sefolosha was injured.
The Hawks will survive this injury, at least for the first round, but losing Sefolosha leaves them more vulnerable during the later rounds. There’s a reason many prognosticators have Cleveland as the favorite to come out of the East, and the loss of Sefolosha for the year only augments that trend.
