Jontay Porter Situation Still Under Investigation
NBA Player Faces Possible Expulsion From League
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver brought up the Jontay Porter situation after the league’s Board of Governors meeting came to an end this week. Silver wouldn’t divulge details of the investigation into Porter other than to say it was ongoing.
The situation involves Porter’s performances on Jan. 26 and March 20. He played briefly in both games, leaving the Jan. 26 game with eye irritation after four minutes.
He played just six minutes in the previous game after being poked in the eye, however, he did play 19 minutes on Jan. 28. In the March 20 game, Porter played just three minutes before leaving the game with a purported illness. Porter’s prop bet numbers were bet heavily to the under both games, which prompted the investigation.
If Porter is found to have deliberately left both games for NBA betting purposes, Silver has different options to choose as punishment.
“I have enormous range of discipline available to me, it’s cardinal sin what he’s accused of in the NBA. The ultimate extreme option I have is to ban him from the game. That’s the level of authority I have here because there’s nothing more serious.” Silver said.
Porter hasn’t played since the gambling allegations surfaced. The Raptors are near the bottom of the NBA standings, so it won’t hurt them in that regard. The Jontay Porter situation could actually help Toronto finish with a worse record and get a better draft pick. However, Porter isn’t really a player whose absence will change the outcome of a game.
League Investigation
The league has enormous resources when it pertains to investigating NBA players for wrongdoing. The NBA will be able to see when bets were placed and from which accounts. Without somebody else coming forward, however, the charges could be difficult to prove.
The NBA will look for connections between Porter and the individuals who placed the under wagers on his prop lines those two games. The league will, or already has, spoken to team doctors and staff, will likely check social media accounts those two days and look at anything else remotely related to the games in question.
The difficult thing for the league to prove in the Jontay Porter situation is he altered outcomes despite low betting limits on NBA props. It’s not a traditional NBA betting game, so the limits on player props are typically $1,000 or $2,000.
A lot of wagers would have to be placed to make it profitable for everybody involved. The NBA will likely try to use whatever connections it has with offshore sportsbooks to see if more was wagered there. Those bets wouldn’t draw the same scrutiny as legal bets placed in the U.S.
Porter isn’t a star in the league. He’s on a two-way contract, so he’s not even guaranteed a spot on the roster. Even if he is cleared of wrongdoing by the league, the investigation could hurt Porter in future seasons. Teams may decide a minor role player isn’t worth the distraction.
Porter has been quiet so far, although his brother Michael Porter Jr., who plays for Denver, has voiced his belief in his innocence. You wouldn’t expect anything less from a brother, however, and have to take that into consideration.
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