With Caitlin Clark’s rise bringing fresh attention to the WNBA, the league is now in the spotlight like never before. This has also led to increased interest in individual players, similar to the way NBA players are followed by their fans.
One player who has had a particularly tumultuous journey is Kysre Gondrezick. Her career has seen significant ups and downs, including her time with the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, and personal issues involving her relationship with an NBA player. So, what exactly happened to her?
To give some background, Gondrezick is the daughter of Grant Gondrezick, a former NBA player, and Lisa Harvey, a college basketball champion with Louisiana Tech. She was drafted as the 4th overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever, but the team waived her in January 2022.
Following that, Gondrezick joined the Chicago Sky for their 2022 training camp but was waived in May after she didn’t make the final roster. Around this time, she was dating Kevin Porter Jr., a guard for the Houston Rockets.
In September 2023, Gondrezick was hospitalized with facial cuts and marks on her neck that appeared to be from strangulation. Porter was arrested and charged with assault and strangulation. Gondrezick reported to the police that Porter had punched her in the face multiple times, causing her injuries, and medical examinations revealed a fractured vertebra in her neck.
The Houston Rockets released a statement saying they were gathering information on the situation involving Porter but had no further comment at the time.
However, in a surprising turn of events, Gondrezick later retracted her statements. In an interview with the New York Post, she claimed that Porter had never hit her and that her injuries were not consistent with the abuse she had described. She said, “He didn’t hit me. He never balled his fists up and hit me. And he definitely didn’t punch me in the face numerous times. That is a lie. I don’t have any injuries to support that.”
The Assistant District Attorney eventually acknowledged that Gondrezick’s facial injuries were due to a congenital defect, leading to a reduction in the charges against Porter. In January 2024, Porter pleaded guilty to a harassment violation and misdemeanor assault.
After this ordeal, Gondrezick tried out again for the Chicago Sky in February during their training camp. This time, she made the opening day roster but played only five games, averaging just three minutes on the court per game. By the end of June 2024, she was once again waived by the team.
