Kristaps Porzingis to donate $500 per block to NY-area hoops program

Kristaps Porzingis is turning blocks into bucks.

NEW YORK (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis is turning blocks into bucks.

The New York Knicks forward will donate $500 for each of his blocked shots for the rest of the season to the RENS, a New York-area, not-for-profit youth basketball program.

The RENS will use the donations from the “KrisStops” campaign for the Ben Jobe Educational and Scholarship Fund. It will help provide RENS participants with free tutoring, SAT prep and tuition money for students in third to eighth grades.

The 7-foot-3 Porzingis, who is averaging 1.2 blocks, will announce the initiative Saturday at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. The program will begin with Sunday's home game against Atlanta.

Jobe, the Knicks' 83-year-old scout, won more than 530 games as a coach at seven black colleges and universities.