Following an altercation at a hotel in New York on Monday morning, Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was taken into custody and charged with assault and strangulation.
At 6:45 a.m., a caller called 911 to report that the victim had been assaulted, and the police detained Porter, 23, after conducting an investigation. Both charges are classified as felonies.
Sources informed the NBA Online Betting PH that the incident involved Porter’s girlfriend, a former player in the WNBA.
A representative for the police department stated that when officers arrived at the scene, they were notified that a 26-year-old woman had suffered a laceration to the right side of her face and was complaining about pain in her neck. “A preliminary investigation on the scene determined that a known individual struck her multiple times upon her body and placed his hands around her neck.”
The woman was sent to the hospital for examination, according to the spokesperson for the police department.
In a statement released by the Rockets, the team said, “We are in the process of gathering information surrounding the matter involving Kevin Porter Jr.” “At this time, we have no further comment,” the organization said.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has also acknowledged that Porter was taken into custody, and a spokesman for the league, Mike Bass, issued the following statement in response: “The league office is in contact with the Houston Rockets and is in the process of gathering more information.”
When the NBA conducts its investigation, the Rockets are not permitted to impose immediate punishment on Porter. This includes the possibility of suspending him.
As outlined in the league’s domestic violence policy, Commissioner Adam Silver has been granted the authority to put Porter on administrative leave while continuing to receive salary for “a reasonable period of time.” Suppose a player is found to have violated the domestic violence policy. In that case, the commissioner has the authority to either punish, suspend, dismiss, or disqualify the player from any further involvement with the league and its teams, depending on the facts of the case.
Porter extended his current deal by four years the previous year and increased his salary cap to $82.5 million. However, it is only guaranteed partly due to Porter’s long history of off-court troubles. If the Rockers eventually decided to waive Porter as a result of the findings of this investigation or if he was convicted of a crime, the club would be responsible for paying only the remaining $16.9 million guaranteed on his contract.
After one season at USC, during which he was suspended for inappropriate behavior, Porter was selected with the thirty-first overall pick in the 2019 draft. He spent his first season in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but for various personal reasons, he did not return the following year to play for the Cavaliers. After a yelling confrontation with Cleveland team officials, he was dealt to the Rockets for a top-55 protected second-round selection in January 2021.
