A former New York Knicks forward who now plays for the Indiana Pacers was stabbed in the abdomen during an argument early Wednesday outside a club in Manhattan, the authorities said.
The player, identified by Pacers officials as Chris Copeland, 31, was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center. The injury was not considered life-threatening, the police said.
A companion of Mr. Copeland, Katrine Saltara, 28, was cut on the right arm and breast, and was also taken to Bellevue. A second woman, Catherine Somani, 23, an acquaintance of the attacker, was also slashed and was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital. Mr. Copeland and Ms. Saltara were in stable condition on Wednesday night. Ms. Somani was released.
Shevoy Bleary-Murdock, 22, was arrested and charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Officers recovered a spring-operated knife outside the club, 1 Oak, on West 17th Street in Chelsea, the police said.
As the police established the crime scene, two Atlanta Hawks players who apparently were not with Mr. Copeland were arrested and charged with interfering in the investigation.
The stabbing, which occurred just before 4 a.m., came several hours after the Hawks arrived in New York from Atlanta, where they had set a single-season franchise record for victories on Tuesday with a blowout win over the Phoenix Suns. On Wednesday night, the Hawks defeated the Nets in Brooklyn, while the Pacers beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The attack rattled the Pacers as they prepared to make a late-season playoff run, fueled by the return of their star player, Paul George, from a serious leg injury on Sunday. The Wednesday night results left Indiana one game out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The police said they thought the attacker had been trying to listen to a conversation involving Mr. Copeland after he left the club, touching off the violent encounter.
The club, which opened in 2008, has become a magnet for celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kanye West, as well as professional athletes. It was a spot favored by self-professed night life aficionado J. R. Smith before the Knicks traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for 1 Oak said “the incident occurred beyond the view of our security.” Cellphone video footage obtained by TMZ Sports shows Mr. Copeland bleeding on the sidewalk, surrounded by police officers, in front of a building adjacent to 1 Oak.
Mr. Copeland, a 6-foot-8 forward from New Jersey, was not drafted out of the University of Colorado, setting him on a five-year journey overseas with several European teams. A smooth shooting stroke earned him a turn in New York after the Knicks signed him in 2012. But he has scored only about 6 points a game for the Pacers this season, and has recently fallen out of favor, often watching full games from the bench
Frank Vogel, the coach of the Pacers, said he learned of the stabbing from Kevin Pritchard, the team’s general manager. Mr. Vogel said he spoke with Mr. Copeland on Wednesday morning and that he had undergone surgery in the afternoon. He had planned to visit him in the hospital, but Mr. Copeland was unable to have visitors.
Mr. Vogel declined to say whether teammates or any of the team’s security personnel were with Mr. Copeland during the confrontation. “Obviously it hurts to see a teammate injured like this,” Mr. Vogel said, “but we’re trying to remain focused on the game tonight.”
Solomon Hill, a second-year forward with the Pacers, said the team did not impose a curfew the night before games. “We’re grown men,” he said. “So I think you don’t want to try to tell people what to do on their free time. But things happen. Even if you don’t have a curfew, things could happen.”
One of the two Hawks team members who were arrested, Thabo Sefolosha, 30, an eight-year veteran from Switzerland, was arraigned on charges of resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct after he ran “in an aggressive manner” toward a police officer who had his back turned to Mr. Sefolosha, according to a criminal complaint. It took four officers to place Mr. Sefolosha in handcuffs, the complaint says.
he other Atlanta player, Pero Antic, 32, who is from Macedonia, was arraigned on charges of obstructing governmental administration, harassment and disorderly conduct. While Mr. Sefolosha was being arrested, a criminal complaint says, Mr. Antic grabbed another officer’s shoulder.
A lawyer for the two players, Alex Spiro, of Brafman & Associates, said, “My clients committed no crime, should not have been arrested, and we fully expect this case to be dismissed.”
The Hawks put out a statement from Mike Budenholzer, the team’s coach. “The events of this morning involving Pero and Thabo were unfortunate as we never want to see our players put themselves in a potentially negative situation,” he said. “We will continue to look into the facts of the incident but with the information and foundation that we currently have established, we will support them through this process.”
The two players released a joint statement in which they apologized to their families, their teammates and the Hawks organization for “any negative attention this incident had brought upon them.”
“We will contest these charges and look forward to communicating the facts of the situation at the appropriate time,” they said.
Larry Bird, the president of basketball operations for the Pacers, said in a statement that “our thoughts are with Chris and those injured.”
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