Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter has been at the forefront of a gambling investigation from the NBA in the past few weeks that has put some doubt into his future in basketball. But on Wednesday, all doubt was cleared up after even more incriminating evidence emerged about his gambling activities.
The investigation found that Porter had disclosed confidential information to bettors, limited his participation in at least one game while he was with the Raptors, and bet on NBA games while playing in the G League.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that Porter did indeed place 13 bets on NBA games, including bets on the Raptors to lose games while he was playing. He also notably abruptly left games early after relaying to bettors that he was sick before games, resulting in them winning large wagers on some of his player props.
This kind of activity is obviously a horrible look for the NBA. And understandably, they issued Porter the harshest penalty possible in response.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA on Wednesday.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a statement on the decision on Wednesday, detailing that Porter put the NBA’s integrity in danger.
“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 game rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” Adam Silver said via ESPN while announcing the ban.
It’s hard to argue that this decision is the correct one to protect the integrity of the NBA moving forward. And hopefully, this extremely harsh penalty warns fellow players not to engage in this kind of activity in the future.
