NBA Bans Raptors Player Jontay Porter for Life

Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter's NBA career came to an abrupt end on Wednesday. The 24-year-old was banned for life for breaking gaming rules, NBC News reports. In a news release, the league said an 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." The league said that before a March 20 game, Porter "disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor."

• Porter took himself out of the March 20 game after less than three minutes, saying he was ill, and an "individual with whom Porter associated and knew to be an NBA bettor" won $1.1 million with an $80,000 parlay proposition bet "wagering that Porter would underperform," the NBA said.
• The league said the payout was frozen due to unusual activity, and it was told about suspicious bets on Porter's performance by "licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets."
• The NBA said Porter also used an associate's account to place at least 13 bets on NBA games in the first three months of this year. He didn't play in any of the games, but three bets were "multi-game parlay bets that included one Raptors game, in which Porter bet that the Raptors would lose." The league noted that Porter lost all three bets.

• "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," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.
• Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., did not play for the Raptors again after the NBA investigation was launched, the AP reports. The league said it is sharing its findings with federal prosecutors.

(More NBA stories.)