Hurley Leaves Hospital in Wheelchair : Pro basketball: Point guard to spend holiday with family in Sacramento. He hopes to return home to New Jersey after further recovery.

Pale and weak, Bobby Hurley left the hospital Friday in a wheelchair, nearly two weeks after suffering collapsed lungs, broken ribs and fractures in an automobile crash.

Hurley, 22, wearing a Santa’s cap and tinted glasses, offered a wan smile to onlookers as a nurse pushed him to the entrance of University Medical Center, where his parents waited with a car.

He said one word as he left, softly answering “fine” to a reporter who asked how he felt.

“His lungs have to heal. He’s got to get therapy on his knee,” said Hurley’s father, Bob.

The Sacramento Kings’ point guard and No. 1 draft pick last June will stay in Sacramento awhile with his mother before returning home to New Jersey, the father said.

The family planned to celebrate Christmas together in Sacramento. Bob Hurley Sr. said he hoped to return to New Jersey on Sunday.

“Our Christmas is here, everything is here,” he said. “Getting Bobby home is the next step.”

Doctors recommended that Hurley avoid flying until he recuperates further, saying a sudden loss of cabin pressure could affect his condition.

Hurley wore braces on his right leg and left arm and shoulder. His braced leg extended, he sat in the right front passenger seat, which was pushed all the way back.

Hurley, formerly a two-time All-American at Duke, was injured Dec. 12 when his sports-utility vehicle collided with a station wagon about a mile from Arco Arena after a game against the Clippers.

Hurley, who was not wearing his seat belt, was thrown about 100 feet from his vehicle into a water-filled ravine.

The driver of the other vehicle, Dan Wieland, 37, a house painter, suffered a broken leg. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Hurley also suffered a fractured shoulder blade, knee injuries, a compression fracture in the lower back and a soft-tissue back injury.

He underwent eight hours of surgery after the crash and was kept in the intensive care unit for a week. Doctors described his recovery as “remarkable and dramatic.”

The player also has a torn ligament in his right knee. Bob Hurley Sr. said reconstructive surgery was planned after his son recovered from the other injuries.

Doctors said he might be able to return to the court next year, if he recovers from the knee surgery as expected.