According to two sources, the Dallas Mavericks were informed by the New York Knicks of a possible 'extortion' against Kristaps Porzingis and not of a pending rape allegation.

"The word that was used was 'extortion,'" one of the sources said.

"The word 'rape' was never used, only 'extortion,'" the second source said.

ESPN previously reported that the Mavericks were informed of the alleged rape by the Knicks during a trade call with the NBA.

Porzingis didn't travel with the Mavericks to their game on Saturday at Oklahoma City.

The Dallas Mavericks were informed by the New York Knicks of pending rape allegations against Kristaps Porzingis on a Jan. 31 trade call with NBA headquarters that finalized a blockbuster trade. The Mavericks took on several unwanted contracts and traded two future first round picks for Porzingis, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Mark Cuban, in an email to the Post, said the team is aware of the accusation, but "we have been instructed by federal authorities not to comment."

Cuban declined further comment when contacted by ESPN.

A seven-month-long investigation in 2018 into the Mavericks organization found widespread sexual harassment and workplace misconduct over a period of more than 20 years.

Cuban agreed to contribute $10 million to women's causes.

Kristaps Porzingis is being investigated in New York for an alleged rape that a woman told police took place last year.

The victim alleges Porzingis raped her hours after he tore his ACL when he invited her to his Manhattan penthouse. When Porzingis returned to his home following his ACL-tear diagnosis, he joined his two brothers and longtime physiotherapist, Manolo Valdivieso, in downing at least one shot of tequila. That account is included in a 23-minute documentary about his rehab.

Investigators consider her credible despite not reporting the alleged attack until over a year later and admitting she discussed receiving $68,000 in hush money.

The victim is also in her 20s and lived in the same building as Porzingis. Once inside his apartment, Porzingis allegedly held her down and raped her.

Porzingis allegedly promises to give her $68,000 and pay for her brother's college tuition but then reneged.

The Dallas Mavericks have been made aware of the accusation.

“We have been instructed by federal authorities not to comment,” Mark Cuban told The Post in an email, which he cc’ed to NBA officials and Porzingis’ reps.

The Knicks traded Porzingis on January 31. The team was asked if they had been made aware of the rape allegation.

“This is Kristaps’ personal matter and not related to the Knicks,” said a spokesperson for the Knicks.

The New York Knicks shut down Frank Ntilikina for the season after he aggravated a groin injury.

Ntilikina had been sidelined with the groin injury since January before returning last week.

He is averaging 5.7 points and 2.8 assists on the season. 

The New York Knicks made an offer to the Sacramento Kings around last year's draft centered around Kristaps Porzingis.

The Kings were drafting No. 2 and could have moved Fox while reorienting their team around Luka Doncic.

The Kings would have had to either send an additional asset beyond De'Aaron Fox or take back unwanted salary from the Knicks.

Sacramento ultimately decided to keep Fox and draft Marvin Bagley III.

Fox has become one of the league's best young point guards, while Porzingis eventually was traded by the Knicks to unite with Doncic as members of the Dallas Mavericks.

"I like Luka, but we didn't want to overload with players who -- maybe they don't have the exact same characteristics, but if you want to develop the guys you have, you have to make sure they have room to develop," said Vlade Divac.

MSG Networks will debut a simulcast on MSG+ during tomorrow's game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers called by Overtime announcers. The pop culture-friendly simulcast is aimed at engaging younger audiences. 

"I think people still want to watch the game, they still want to understand what’s going on and those things ring true of traditional broadcasts. But they want the people on screen to maybe be a little bit more relatable, be able to incorporate more things about pop culture and ultimately, too, feel a little more like their friend," said Overtime co-founder Zack Weiner.

MSG Networks senior vice president of marketing and content Kevin Marotta said the partnership represents an opportunity for his company to reach the Generation Z demographic.

“It was not necessarily, ‘We need to do something for young people,’ but it was, ‘How do we start to engage this audience for the future?’ There’s a recognition that there are some brands out there who do it really well. That sort of led us down the path with Overtime," said Marotta.

James Dolan revealed the New York Knicks have already heard from players and their representatives expressing interest in joining the franchise this offseason.

The Knicks have been linked with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

“No, look, New York is the mecca of basketball,” Dolan said. “We hear from people all the time, from players, representatives. It’s about who wants to come. We can’t respond because of the NBA rules, but that doesn’t stop them from telling us and they do.

“I can tell you from what we’ve heard I think we’re going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents. The thing about the team now is that it’s very young. It’s the youngest team in the NBA. You take a look at some of the players that we have and they won’t be the centerpiece of the team, but as complements to the centerpiece of the team, we’re developing them right now.”

Dolan was asked if he expects the best available free agents to sign with the Knicks.

“Yes, I do think that,” he said. “I think we offer a pretty good situation for them. One, is a lot of them love New York. A bunch of them live in New York in the offseason. They know the team. They know [David Fizdale] really well. They know Steve [Mills) and they know Scott [Perry]. I think they’re fairly confident about the organization.

“Players who are free agents want to go to a winner and they want to get paid. We’re definitely going to pay them. And we think with them combined with the kids that we have, that we can build a winning team.”

James Dolan stood by his decision to confront a fan who was heckling him at Madison Square Garden.

The fan yelled "sell the team!" at Dolan as the owner of the New York Knicks was entering the tunnel to exit the main bowl of the arena.

“For the record, I’m not selling the team and I’m not quitting,” said Dolan. 

Previous reports have suggested Dolan could have interest in selling the Knicks. Dolan stressed he wouldn’t sell even if someone offered him as much as $6 billion.

“We’re not quitting. We’re not selling,” he said. “And we believe we’re going to bring a winner home.”

Dolan explained his side of the confrontation.

“I do understand for the fans it’s about winning and losing and we haven’t been doing much winning. And there’s a real big frustration level there. We get it. I don’t like losing either,” Dolan said. “If you want to go right into [Saturday’s] incident, it’s pretty easy. It appears this gentleman and his friends planned to do this. Just before the game they cleared their profiles out. We have video which shows them moving from one side of the arena to the other and pointing at me, where I was walking, to set this ambush up and they did. As soon as they were done with it, it was immediately sold to TMZ.

“Not for nothing, I shouldn’t have taken the bait,” he said. “I will say we had just lost, again, and believe it or not I get frustrated with it, too. … I don’t mind. You hear all kinds of stuff, but what is a problem is when someone becomes confrontational. These people clearly were there for a confrontation.”

Dolan admitted he wouldn't kick out everyone if more fans chanted the same thing at him.

“The ban is only coming from the fact that he planned it. They were stalking me,” Dolan said.

James Dolan responded to heckler who asked him to sell the New York Knicks at the end of Saturday's loss to the Sacramento Kings.

"Sell the team," said a fan to Dolan as he exited the arena.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have been linked with signing with the New York Knicks over the past few weeks. Irving and Durant were teammates at the All-Star Game and shared a lengthy, public conversation after Boston's win at Golden State this week.

"I was talking to some people who were with "Team Free Agent", I mean "Team LeBron" at All-Star," said Brian Windhorst. "And they said that Kyrie and KD were like a middle school couple that weekend. Eating together... Doing drills together at practice.

"'I'll rebound for you. You rebound for me. I'll post you up. You post me up.'

"They went to Miami together after the weekend."