The NBA banned Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for allegedly betting on games, passing on information to gamblers and claiming illness to influence a wager, the league said Wednesday.
A 6-foot-10 power forward and center, Porter attended the University of Missouri and has spent much of his pro career in the NBA’s developmental G League.
The 24-year-old played in 26 games this season for Toronto, averaging 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. He also got into 11 games for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2020-21, averaging 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds.
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
A representative for the players union could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
The NBA said its investigation found that Porter had engaged in widespread gambling, against league rules.
He allegedly “disclosed confidential information” about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor” ahead of a March 20 game.
Porter claimed to suffer from an illness during the game and only played three minutes, the league said.
An $80,000 online bet was placed ahead of the March 20 game that he would underperform, which would have paid out $1.1 million — though that conspicuously large amount led to the wager being “frozen” and “not paid out,” the NBA said.
When Porter was on the Raptors G League affiliate in March, he placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using “an associate’s online betting account,” the league said.
None of those bets were on Raptors games, the league said. Those wagers ranged from $15 to $22,000 and totaled $54,094, according to the NBA. He ended up winning $21,965 from those March wagers.
“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place,” Silver said.
Porter is believed to be the first NBA player booted for gambling since Jack Molinas of the Fort Wayne Pistons was taken off the hardwood in 1954 for allegedly betting on games.
The league was touched by a gambling scandal back in 2007 when disgraced referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felonies connected to his bets on NBA games and secretly advising professional gamblers.
Gambling was once a complete taboo in professional and high-level college sports, with legal wagers only taken in Nevada.
But sports betting has taken off since 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that had required states to ban such wagers.
Now sports betting is legal and operational in 38 states and the District of Columbia. In 30 states and the nation’s capital. bettors can make wagers with a tap on their phones.
