Depending on whom you believe, the police either broke the leg of Thabo Sefolosha, a professional basketball player, near a Manhattan nightclub early one morning in April, or had to repeatedly tell him to move from a crime scene as the 6-foot-6 forward for the Atlanta Hawks called an officer a midget.

Lawyers in the trial of Mr. Sefolosha, who is charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, presented sharply different descriptions of his arrest during opening arguments on Tuesday, echoing questions about race and police practices that have recently been part of a broader debate in New York City.

Mr. Sefolosha, 31, contends that police officers broke a bone in his right leg as they arrested him on April 8, causing him to miss the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that Mr. Sefolosha had exhibited truculent behavior at the time, grudgingly following police orders to move farther from where a stabbing had occurred, disparaging one officer for his height and then charging at another.