Dallas Mavericks player Kristaps Porzingis has been accused of raping his neighbor after tearing his ACL last season.
According to an explosive report from The New York Post, the former Knicks star is accused of inviting a woman over to his Manhattan penthouse and raping her on the same night that he suffered a season ending injury. She only reported the alleged attack to police Thursday and apparently was in discussions for $68,000 in hush money. (RELATED: New York Knicks Trade Kristaps Porzingis To The Dallas Mavericks)
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Porzingis’ lawyer released a statement saying the talented NBA center is denying the allegations and that the FBI is investigating “the accuser’s extortionate demands.”
As of this moment, he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
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The Mavericks were also reportedly fully aware of the allegations against Porzingis when they decided to trade for him this season, and still pulled the trigger on the trade.
On the February trade call to finalize the Dallas-New York deal, the Knicks informed the Mavericks of the pending rape allegation against Kristaps Porzingis, league sources tell ESPN. The league office had been previously made aware of the allegations.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 31, 2019
This is just a wild situation all the way around. The NYPD is involved, the FBI is apparently investigating the accuser and both teams have known about this for some time.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Mavericks justify trading for Porzingis given the situation hanging over his head, even if it wasn’t public at the time of the transaction. As of right now, the organization isn’t commenting.
This situation is going to likely get crazier before it calms down. Allegations like this one against Porzingis is the last thing in the world the league wants to be dealing with, but I can pretty much promise it won’t go away anytime soon.