The NBA announced in late March that they were investigating Raptors two-way player, and brother of the Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter for his involvement in suspicious betting activity. Wednesday, the league announced that Jontay Porter has now been banned for life based on the findings of the investigation.
The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/h2TIkaE7xs
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 17, 2024
Porter was being investigated in relation to betting activity around his player props on multiple occasions. There were unusually large amounts wagered on his player props to go under, and Porter exited those games under questionable circumstances after only playing a handful of minutes.
The statement from the NBA reads, “Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games, and betting on NBA games”. This is about as bad as it gets and Commissioner Adam Silver had no choice but to bring down the hammer swiftly and severely.
What does this mean for the NBA?
Legalized sports gambling has swept the country and is now almost unavoidable even in casual consumption of professional sports, but that makes it more important than ever for the league to be completely transparent and to do everything possible to protect the integrity of the game.
""There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of the 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.""Adam Silver
On top of the two suspicious games involving Porter himself, he was found to have bet on at least 13 NBA games. He didn’t play in any of those games, but on one occasion he did bet on the Raptors to lose a game.
What does this mean for MPJ and the Nuggets?
The NBA investigation is still ongoing and there’s a chance this is just the tip of the iceberg. It will be fascinating to see what effect - if any - this has on Jontay’s brother, as MPJ and the Nuggets prepare to defend their NBA title.
As of now, there has been no indication the MPJ is involved in the investigation in any way, but that could certainly change as more information comes out. But the brotherly connection is obvious, and the Action Network reported that Jontay was placing bets in Colorado dating back as far as 2021.
The last thing the Nuggets need right now is an off-court distraction, but this story certainly isn’t going away any time soon. Even if MPJ isn’t implicated or investigated, he will definitely be bombarded by the media.
And the last thing the NBA needs is people talking about a major betting scandal involving a relative of a player on a team that could be playing deep into June. All we can do now is hope that this doesn’t impact Michael’s play on the court because the Nuggets need him at his best to repeat as NBA champions.