On Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought Thor’s Stormbreaker down on the Raptors’ Jontay Porter for his involvement in sports betting, and it was jaw-dropping.
The League declared Porter was banned for life for his antics, and Silver pulled no punches in his feelings on the issue and verdict.
“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 gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” said Silver in a press release.
The investigation into Porter, the younger brother of the Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr., found that the 24-year-old was guilty of “disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.”
The League has a strict policy barring players and those associated with the NBA from betting on any NBA property, including NBA games, the WNBA, G League, Basketball Africa League, NBA2K League or Summer League.
Porter not only “placed at least 13 bets on NBA games” by using a friend’s online betting account, but he also provided a betting acquaintance with information on his health. Another bettor then placed an $80,000 bet that would have hauled in $1.1 million if Porter hit the under on his player props. In that game, Porter checked out of that game after three minutes due to an “illness.” That bet triggered a red flag, so it was subsequently frozen and the betting operators notified the NBA, which opened an investigation into the situation.
While Porter’s decision to literally gamble away his NBA career is incredibly dumb, it’s a scenario that was easy to fathom.
As states legalized sports betting, leagues gleefully, and greedily, jumped at the chance to rake in the hundreds of millions that operators were spending on league rights, marketing and advertising. They initially focused more on the revenue than the after-effects of gambling in the league, which left the door open a crack for players like Porter who deemed betting a worthy risk.
To be fair, this situation demonstrates how the system can work properly when irregularities or attempts to game the system occur.
But what this incident really exposes is the hypocrisy of league punishments, gambling’s impact on fan-player interactions and how gambling and the temptation of risk eclipses common sense.
We saw it with NFL player Calvin Ridley, who was suspended for a year after placing multiple bets, including on his team, the Atlanta Falcons (he was injured at the time and not playing).
Ridley being deserving of punishment is unquestionable. But what is debatable is retributive justice doled out by the NFL based on previous incidents in the NFL.
Remember the sentences doled out to Ray Rice and Greg Hardy after domestic violence incidents? Rice originally received a two-game suspension that was increased to an indefinite suspension after protests erupted. Hardy’s initial ten-game suspension was reduced to four after a settlement between Hardy and his girlfriend was reached.
But betting results in indefinite suspensions to a lifetime ban.
Oftentimes, domestic violence charges in sports grant second chances to players after suspensions. After the Hornets’ Myles Bridges was arrested and charged with multiple charges in a domestic violence incident with the mother of his children in June 2022, he sat out the following season. In April 2023, the league announced Briges was being suspended for 30 games, which later became 10 games as they deemed 20 had already been served.
Bridges returned to the Hornets this past November and played in 69 games.
But Porter is banned for life after physically hurting only himself.
That’s hypocrisy at its finest.
Betting also equips fans with the bravado to verbally attack players after bad/underwhelming performances, some of those attacks being racist.
In 2021, Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell was targeted by racist comments after a loss to Oral Roberts in the NCAA Tournament.
In April 2023, the Raptors’ Chris Boucher described how racists targeted him after they lost a bet.
“Somebody said, ‘I chose the wrong slave today.’ Literally, sent me that message. I had to read it, I couldn’t believe it,” said Boucher. “He said, ‘I chose the wrong slave,’ because I had only five points and he needed me to score 10. So, yeah, it’s at this point now.”
More recently, Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff described how fans yell at him during games to cover the spread. Some even got his phone number and called him to harass him.
“I personally have had my own instances with some of the sports gamblers, where they got my telephone number, were sending me crazy messages about where I live, and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said.
Sports betting has its place, but there must be more done to protect players and coaches from rabid fans who wager on their games and performances.
Hopefully, leagues and governing bodies take action before someone gets hurt.
“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”
While Commissioner Silver does that, he has one less player to worry about in Porter, who foolishly threw away his NBA career to wager $54,094, receive a $76,059 payout and earn a net profit of $21,965.
A dumb bet by someone making a million dollars in salary.
