An E:60 documentary that aired Sunday on Kristaps Porzingis’ life track from Latvia to the Knicks revealed a family tragedy that was previously unreported.
According to the ESPN show, filmed mostly in Latvia last summer, another Porzingis brother passed away before Kristaps was born. Kristaps Porzingis has two older brothers, Janis, his agent, and Martins, his manager.
After Janis and Martins were born, the family had a third son, Toms. He died at 14 months old – four years before Kristaps entered the world.
Speaking in Latvian, his mother, Ingrida Porzingis, said: “It felt like a bulldozer had run over my life. We had two other children who we had to care for. We had to live on. After Kristaps was born, it was like he had to live for two lives.’’
The family wouldn’t go into detail on the death. Janis was quoted saying Kristaps, as a result, got “double attention.’’
The last filming for the documentary occurred in mid-April at Kristaps Porzingis’ apartment complex in Midtown Manhattan, where he lives with his brothers. It came the day before he bolted for Latvia after missing his exit meeting with Phil Jackson. Porzingis said in the documentary only that he had his reasons for missing it.The documentary was oddly timed, considering his ongoing feud with Jackson and the trade talks the team president held before the draft last week. The Post reported Saturday Jackson is concerned Porzingis will not want to sign a second contract with the Knicks when he becomes a restricted free agent in 2019.