Jontay Porter, brother of Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr., banned from NBA in sports betting scandal

Jontay Porter, the younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., has been banned from the NBA after a league investigation found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes.

Porter, 24, was on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors, splitting time between the NBA team and its G League affiliate.

The league investigation found that Porter also placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account, according to a news release. He did not place any bets involving games in which he played, but three of the bets he placed were multi-game parlays that included a wager on the Raptors to lose one game.

“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 gambling rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” league commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

The NBA has maintained a partnership with FanDuel as the league’s authorized gaming operator since 2018.

The investigation into Porter, which remains open and could produce further findings, centered on the Raptors’ loss to the Sacramento Kings on March 20. It was concluded that Porter shared information about his health with an individual he knew to be a sports bettor. According to the release, a different person Porter also knew to be a sports bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay through an online sports book, betting Porter would underperform in the game. Porter played only three minutes, claiming he felt ill. The parlay payout would have been $1.1 million, but due to unusual betting activity and Porter’s exit from the game, the bet was frozen and not paid out.

The investigation found Porter “limited his own game participation to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance.”

Porter was one grade younger than Michael Porter Jr. in school when they were growing up, but he re-classified in high school to graduate a year early and join MPJ on the Missouri men’s basketball team. The brothers shared an NBA floor together for the first time March 11, when the Nuggets defeated the Raptors, 125-119, at Ball Arena. It was nine days before Porter’s alleged disclosure of confidential information violated league rules.

“I know what you guys know,” Michael Porter Jr. said March 27 after news of the investigation into his brother came to light. “I know Jontay loves the game of basketball. He’s been really excited to play with the Raptors. So I know just as much as you guys know at this point. I have known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is. I know he’s excited to play basketball and highly doubt that he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.”

Jontay Porter’s lifetime ban from the league was announced the same morning the Nuggets were holding their first practice in preparation for the 2024 playoffs. MPJ was not made available to the media, but he did practice as usual with his teammates.

“He knows that we all support him, and his family is such a well-connected, strong family with tremendous faith from his mom and dad throughout,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And he knows he has another family here at Ball Arena in that locker room, and a coaching staff and an entire franchise that have his back. But it has not been easy for him. That’s why I give him credit, because he’s carrying so much in his heart and in his mind. And for him to go out there and do the job that he’s doing, it speaks to how much strength that young man has.”

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