Why Jontay Porter Is Banned From The NBA For Good

Jontay Porter's time on the basketball court has come to a crashing halt for breaking this number one rule.

Over the last few years, the young athlete has become one of the hottest players in the league, making a name for himself as a power forward in the NBA. While his start in the league began with him getting undrafted in 2019, he later went on to play for an array of teams, including the Memphis Grizzlies, the Denver Nuggets, and Motor City Cruise. However, his big break in the sports sphere came in December 2023 when he signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors. In a January 2024 interview with The Wairaich Report, the Missouri native described playing in the NBA as a dream come true. "The vibes are always awesome... it feels like every day I've been here with the Raptors, it's been something new," he explained. "It's just a lifelong dream that's been realized, and it's been extraordinary, and I'm not taking a day for granted." 

While it looked like things were looking up for Porter, it all came crashing down in March 2024 when the NBA announced that they were investigating him for betting irregularities. According to a report from ESPN, a handful of sources confirmed that prop bets were the key issue, specifically for his games on January 26 and March 20. After a few weeks of investigating, the NBA decided to ban Porter from the league for life. But what were the player's formal offenses? It turns out Porter received a lifetime ban for violating the league's betting rules.

On April 17, 2024, the NBA announced that Jontay Porter had been officially banned for life after he violated the league's betting rules, including purposely hindering his own playing time. "A league investigation found that Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games," they wrote in a statement. The NBA went on to spotlight Porter's March 20, 2024 game, where they revealed that he had disclosed information about his health status to an individual he knew was an NBA bettor. This action resulted in another NBA bettor, whom he had associated with in the past, placing an $80,000 parlay proposition, laying odds that Porter would underperform in the game.

In addition to sharing insider information about his health, the league's investigation confirmed that the former Memphis Grizzlies player bet on 13 NBA games using another person's betting account between January and March 2024. "These bets ranged in size from $15 to $22,000, for a total of $54,094," they said. "The total payout from these bets as $76,059, resulting in net winnings of $21,965." The NBA added that none of the games he bet on were games he played. Toward the end of their statement, the league confirmed that the investigation remains open. Days before the findings were made public, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reportedly described Porter's actions as a "cardinal sin" following a meeting with the league's annual board of governors, as reported by ESPN.

While Jontay Porter's NBA ban may come as a massive shock to fans, he isn't the first sports star to be fired from the league indefinitely. In the past, players like Richard Dumas, Chris Washburn, John Drew, Roy Tarpley, and OJ Mayo have received lifelong suspensions after failing to abide by the league's drug policies. However, Porter is believed to be first active player in 70 years to be banned from the NBA for gambling since the late Jack Molinas. Unlike the Raptors' power forward, the former Pistons player's shady gambling dealings dated back to his days playing basketball at Columbia University. According to Time, Molinas used to rig his games with the help of mob-backed bookers. "To Molinas, playing in a rigged ball game was more exhilarating than playing it straight," former basketball star Charley Rosen wrote in his book "The Wizards of Odds," adding, "Molinas loved the idea of playing so many secret games at the same time."

While Porter has remained mum on his lifetime ban, as of this writing, Raptors president Masai Ujiri acknowledged the news during a press conference on April 17, 2024. "You don't want this for the kid, you don't want this for our team, and we don't want this for our league, that's for sure," he said, according to the Associated Press. "My first reaction is obviously surprise because none of us, I don't think anybody, saw this coming."