NBA issues staggering punishment for Raptors forward caught gambling

“A league investigation found that Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors," the league said in a statement, "limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games."

The NBA began investigating Porter last month due to betting-related irregularities. The Raptors big man exited games early on Jan. 26 and March 20, reportedly due to a re-aggravation of an eye injury and an illness, respectively.

The “unders” on Porter-related prop bets on those days received heavy action at sports books, including DraftKings. Prop bets allow bettors to wager on whether individual players will reach certain statistical benchmarks (e.g. points, rebounds, assists, etc.) in a game.

According to the release from the NBA, the league’s investigation turned up the following details, which resulted in Porter’s lifetime ban:

• Prior to the March 20 game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to someone he knew to be an NBA bettor. Another individual with whom Porter associated and knew to be an NBA bettor placed an $80K parlay prop bet (to win $1.1M) on Porter underperforming in that game.
• Porter limited his own participation in at least one game to influence the outcome of one or more bets. The league suggests that this occurred in the March 20 game, when Porter claimed he felt ill after playing just three minutes. As a result of the “unusual betting activity and actions of the player,” the $80K prop bet was frozen and wasn’t paid out.
• From January through March 2024, while under contract with the Raptors, Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s account. Those bets totaled $54,094 and paid out $76,059, resulting in net winnings of $21,965. While none of those bets involved a game Porter played, three of the bets were multi-game parlays that included a Raptors game. In each case, Porter bet the Raptors would lose.

According to the NBA, its investigation is ongoing and could result in additional findings. The league had discovered enough to this point to make the decision not to allow Porter to play in the NBA again.

The league also stated that it has shared – and will continue to share – its findings with federal prosecutors.

“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,” commissioner Adam Silver said in Wednesday’s release. “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, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”

Porter, who is the younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., represented a feel-good story when he caught on with the Raptors this season, since he overcame a series of injuries – including a pair of ACL tears – to make it back to the NBA for the first time since 2021.

In 26 games for Toronto this season, including five starts, the 24-year-old averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 13.8 minutes per night.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, Porter earned $415K this season, pushing his career NBA earnings to approximately $2.8M. He would have been eligible for restricted free agency this offseason.