The NBA revealed Wednesday that Jontay Porter, a fringe power forward on the Toronto Raptors, had been issued a lifetime ban from the league after he was found to have wagered thousands on NBA games that included betting against his own team.
The permanent ban for Porter, 24, comes after a bombshell investigation alleged he manipulated his participation in some games to influence the outcome of bets for associates.
In a statement, the league said Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games between January and March. It added that Porter didn’t personally wager on the outcomes of games he featured in, but he allegedly bet for the Raptors to lose a game he wasn’t playing in as part of a failed parlay.
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As a player, Porter’s impact on the court was minimal. He saw limited minutes as a power forward—approximately 14 a game—and bounced back and forth between the Raptors and its G League affiliate.
Off the court, however, he was allegedly wagering tens of thousands of dollars on different events. He’s also been accused of engaging with other gamblers online, which is the source of perhaps the most egregious allegations he faces.
Hours before he played in a Raptors home game on March 20 against the Sacramento Kings, Porter allegedly informed an NBA bettor about his health status. That person, who the NBA described as being “associated” with Porter, then wagered a whopping $80,000 on a parlay that needed Porter to underperform or rarely play in order to hit.
Porter played only three minutes in that game, claiming he fell ill after the it began. Had Porter not played at all, the wagers on him would’ve been cancelled. He finished the game with zero points and two rebounds, missing his lone field goal attempt.
That bet, which included multiple “unders” for Porter, would have won Porter’s associate $1.1 million, the NBA said, but the funds were frozen due to suspicious activity.
A similar incident occurred on Jan. 26. ESPN reported that sportsbooks reported an unusual spike in betting interest on the under on several of Porter’s statistics before he played the Los Angeles Clippers. Porter would play just four minutes in that matchup before leaving the game with issues related to an eye injury, the team announced. His final line included no points, three rebounds, and one assist, all of which were under the lines sportsbooks had set for his statistics.
Sources told ESPN that the bets on Porter from that game were larger than other bets placed by those same accounts previously, raising suspicions. Those accounts were in Arizona, New Jersey, and New York, the network reported.
In addition to swaying his own stats, league officials said Porter used an associate’s bank account to wager on NBA games himself, with bets ranging from $15 to $22,000.
Porter was relatively successful in his gambling, with the NBA saying he profited $21,965 from 15 bets. It specified that he won $76,059 despite having wagered only $54,094.
Still, those winnings are a far cry from the amount of money Porter will miss out on now that he’s been permanently barred from the league. His salary for the 2023-24 season alone was $411,794.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver grilled Porter in a statement, saying his “blatant violations” of league rules deserved to be met with the harshest possible punishment.
“Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game,” he said.
