The Knicks’ Cleanthony Early was shot in the knee during a stick-up after he and a gal pal left a Queens jiggle joint early Wednesday even after he handed over an iPhone, cash and $9,000 in bling — including his gold mouth “grillz,” sources said.
Early, a 24-year-old Bronx native, was held up by up to six bandits – two brandishing guns and at least one wearing a ski mask – after leaving the CityScapes strip club on 58th Street in Maspeth with Iliana Douge, law enforcement sources said.
The seldom-used forward had dinner with the woman — who staffers said had been in the strip club before — in SoHo before arriving at CityScapes about 1:30 a.m., sources said.
Early, who makes a guaranteed $845,00 this season, was flashing cash and wearing gold chains with medallions as well as the grillz — gold mouthpieces favored by rappers that they left at the scene— leading investigators to believe he was targeted.
“They picked him. He had a lot of cash he was taking out and he had the gold on him,” a source told The Post.
The couple hopped into an Uber cab at 4:15 a.m. and began fooling around in the back seat, sources said.
The suspects followed and boxed the cab in a block away in front of 64-70 Maurice, preventing the driver, identified as Murdeep Singh, 22, of Queens, from getting away.
Four to six men jumped out, with one yelling “Give me everything you got!” — and Early handed over the grillz, cash, two gold chains and an iPhone 6.
The Uber driver was also forced to hand over his ID, sources said.
Early was then shot once in his surgically repaired right knee — an operation that forced him to miss much of last season. It was unclear why the former Wichita State star was shot after handing over the loot, the sources added.
He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and later transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan with a non-life threatening wound.
The driver and Early knocked on a door at a 64th Street home where the resident let them in and called 911.
“He was really calm. There was no blood on him,” Fernando Vergara told The Post. “He was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket. I didn’t see any blood or marks on him. I didn’t think he was hurt at all,” said Vergara.
The 6-foot-8 baller was drafted in the second round in 2014, but has played in only 10 games this year, averaging about 3-1/2 minutes a game and scoring just seven points all season. He played for 29 seconds in Tuesday’s win against the Detroit Pistons and went scoreless.
Teammate Jose Calderon tweeted at Early: “Prayers for my teammate and good friend.”
And Knicks rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis also tweeted at his wounded teammate: “Prayers for my brother.”
Knicks coach Derek Fisher said he warned his team to be careful.The robbery comes 11 days after teammate Derrick Williams was robbed of $700,000 of jewelry in the wee hours by two women he had just met at a club.
“Continue to try to be as vigilant and as careful as you can knowing that you can’t always avoid other people’s choices,” said Fisher, adding that he might consider a curfew.
Carmelo Anthony called Early “humble” and “a guy who stays to himself.”
Douge’s father, Mario Douge, 56, was distraught when he learned the news from The Post and that his daughter was at a strip club.
“That is insane. She could have been killed! They were at a strip club? You know what? I’ve got to talk to her because I told her stay away from those places,” said Douge. His daughter, he added, told him she had been friends with one of the Knicks for about a year, but he didn’t know if she meant Early.
Neither his daughter nor Singh could be reached.
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts, Kevin Sheehan and Kevin Fasick