The New York Police Department has launched an investigation of former New York Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis after he allegedly raped a neighbor – just hours after tearing his ACL last year.
Hours after suffering a devastating knee injury at Madison Square Garden last year, former Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis came home and allegedly raped a neighbor he’d invited to his luxe Manhattan penthouse, the woman told police, according to law enforcement sources.
The woman made her stunning allegation against the 23-year-old player on Thursday afternoon — and investigators consider her credible, one high-ranking NYPD source told The Post.
The accuser is “believable,” the source said, despite her not reporting the alleged attack until over a year later, and her admission to cops that she discussed getting $68,000 in hush money from the multi-millionaire baller.
The alleged attack happened Feb. 7, 2018 at the soaring Sky building in Midtown West, the woman told cops at the 10th Precinct stationhouse, the sources told The Post.
The woman — who is in her 20s and also lived in the building — told cops the NBA star visited her apartment at around 2 a.m., and that she accepted his invitation to go back to his posh pad.
Once inside, the towering, 7-foot-3 Latvian allegedly held her down and raped her, she told cops, according to sources.
The NYPD’s Special Victims Division has taken over the case and is investigating, the sources said.
The woman told cops she waited over a year to talk to police because Porzingis allegedly promised to give her money to keep her quiet, the sources said.
She told cops Porzingis promised to give her $68,000 to pay for her brother’s college tuition, but then reneged, the sources said.
It is unclear if any money ever changed hands between the two.
Porzingis’ current team, the Dallas Mavericks, has been made aware of the woman’s accusation, according to team owner Mark Cuban.
“We have been instructed by federal authorities not to comment,” Cuban told The Post in an email, which he cc’ed to NBA officials and Porzingis’ reps.
Cuban declined to say if the feds have been brought in by Porzingis’ side as part of a counter-claim of extortion.
Porzingis’ reps said they could not comment about the accusation because they have not seen the police report.
A lawyer for Porzingis called the 10th Precinct stationhouse soon after the woman made her allegation there, and was referred to Special Victims, according to a police source, who could not immediately provide the attorney’s name.
Hours before the alleged attack, the then-Knicks forward tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a 103-89 trouncing by the Milwaukee Bucks at the Garden.
When Porzingis returned home from his ACL-tear diagnosis, he joined his two brothers and longtime physiotherapist, Manolo Valdivieso, in downing at least one shot of tequila, according to a 23-minute documentary about his rehab.
“I think that night we got back home, we made four shots,” his brother and agent Janis Porzingis said.
“I just said: ‘To a new beginning.’ We drink the shot and started the next day as a new beginning. That’s what we did.”
“The shock moment. I would say lasted for a day and half,” Janis added.
“When you know those things happen, you never think it’s going to happen to him. It’s a shock. You can’t believe that’s happening actually.”
Porzingis was traded to the Mavericks on Jan. 31. The Mavericks were in Miami on Thursday; they play again at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Porzingis, selected fourth by the Knicks in the first round of the 2015 draft, was dubbed the “Unicorn” by ex-Thunder forward Kevin Durant
“He can shoot, he can make the right plays, he can defend, he’s a 7-footer that can shoot all the way out to the 3-point line,” Durant said in 2016. “That’s rare. And block shots—that’s like a unicorn in this league.
Asked if they’d been made aware of the rape allegation, a Knicks spokesman said: “This is Kristaps’ personal matter and not related to the Knicks.”
