Kristaps Porzingis Says 'LA Clippers' Tweet Was a Hack, Twitter Looking into It

New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis released a statement on Twitter on Sunday saying the "LA Clippers" tweet posted to his account Saturday was the result of a hack:

Porzingis' official Twitter account tweeted and then deleted a message saying "LA Clippers" with three smiley faces. A representative for Porzingis told Ian Begley of ESPN.com earlier Sunday that the tweet was the result of a hack.

Marc Berman of the New York Post reported others sometimes handle posting tweets from Porzingis' account. Based on the public stance that it was a hack-related incident, it's unlikely anyone in Porzingis' inner circle was responsible. The representative who spoke to Begley said the second-year forward was asleep when the tweet posted.

While this is generally easy to write off as a meaningless social media snafu, Porzingis' rocky relationship with the Knicks led to some understandable fervor. Porzingis skipped out on exit meetings with team president Phil Jackson and general manager Steve Mills over his displeasure with the organization's direction.

Begley reported that "several" teams attempted to contact the Knicks about trading for Porzingis in the aftermath of that story leaking. It's unclear if those talks ever got beyond the inquiry phase. Porzingis is seen as the new franchise cornerstone with Carmelo Anthony likely headed elsewhere this summer, and has said publicly he wants to spend his career in New York.

"Absolutely, I want to stay here all my career," Porzingis told Latvian magazine Sporta Avize, per Berman. "But the thing I want most of all is winning. When the time comes, I will seriously start to think about it. Right now I just try to do my best."

Porzingis plans to spend most, if not all, of his summer out of the United States. He returned home to Latvia immediately after the Knicks' season ended and plans to play for the Latvian national team at the 2017 EuroBasket tournament. It is the first time Porzingis has played internationally since being taken fourth overall in the 2015 draft.