Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested early Monday morning in New York City and charged with assault and strangulation following an incident involving his girlfriend, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, according to ESPN. Both charges are felonies.
According to ABC News, Porter Jr. was reportedly returning from a night out at a hotel where he and Gondrezick were staying. Gondrezick was upset about the hour Porter Jr. returned and locked the door. After the Rockets security guard entered the room with the help of hotel security, he allegedly “beat up” Gondrezick. Further details about the situation are currently unclear.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement released on Monday The league is aware of the reports about Porter Jr. and is gathering “further information.”
This isn’t Porter Jr.’s first run-in with the law. In August 2020, he was accused of punching and pulling a woman’s hair in downtown Cleveland. In that incident, the woman claimed that Porter ripped out her tissue during an argument with Porter’s sister and that the Rockets guard punched her in the face. Porter was not charged for this incident.
In November 2020, while still a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was arrested for being in possession of a loaded gun following a car accident. He was later released after posting $4,000 bail.
After one season with the Cavaliers, Porter Jr. was traded to the Rockets in 2021 following a locker room tantrum in which he was upset that his locker had been given to someone else. Porter reportedly began screaming and at one point threw food, and although Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman stepped in to calm him down, Porter remained “combative.” After the incident, he was told to clean out his locker and his teammates were told he would no longer be a member of the team. Four days later he was traded to Houston.