Ex-NBA Players Spriggs, Comegys Shot Outside Turkish Nightclub

Former Laker Larry Spriggs and former New Jersey Net and San Antonio Spur Dallas Comegys were shot late Wednesday night outside a nightclub in Turkey, where both are playing pro basketball.

Spriggs, 36, who played for the Laker NBA champions of 1984-85, was listed in good condition Thursday after surgery for a gunshot wound in the back. Comegys, 31, was in stable condition at Uludag University Medical School Hospital in Bursa, 150 miles southwest of Istanbul. He underwent surgery to remove a bullet from his right lung.

Comegys plays for Istanbul’s Fenerbahce club, Spriggs for Bursa’s Oyak Renault. The teams were to play Saturday, but have asked that the game be postponed.

There were conflicting accounts about the shooting.

Sevki Dincal, deputy police chief of Bursa, said Spriggs, Comegys and American players Henry Turner and Ricky Winslow verbally abused two Turkish women outside Club S and the comments led to a fight with men accompanying the women.

A club bouncer fired his gun, hitting Comegys, Spriggs and an unidentified patron, who died on the spot, Dincal said.

Police detained three people in connection with the incident, including the club bouncer, who admitted firing the gun.

The Fenerbahce club said Comegys was trying to break up a fight and was shot accidentally.