NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has shed more light on what the professional basketball league is investigating in connection with Jontay Porter and his prop betting markets, saying Wednesday that the Toronto Raptor is accused of a “cardinal sin.”
News broke late last month that Porter was under investigation by the NBA after prop betting markets involving the Toronto center attracted an eyebrow-raising amount of action.
Silver was asked about the prop betting probe following the NBA’s Board of Governors meetings this week and what sort of penalties he could impose. The commissioner responded that he has an “enormous range of discipline” available to him depending on the outcome of the investigation and that Porter is being accused of a “cardinal sin” under the NBA’s rules.
“And the ultimate, extreme option I have is to ban him from the game,” Silver told reporters. “That's the level of authority I have here because there is nothing more serious, I think, around this league when it comes to gambling and betting on our games, and that is a direct player involvement. And so, [the] investigation is ongoing, but the consequences could be very severe.”
ESPN is reporting that Jontay Porter prop betting for two days this year is at issue.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) March 26, 2024
Here are the DraftKings “NBA Moneymakers” reports for the two days in question: https://t.co/7pFquZZbsL pic.twitter.com/LmsgWUaJ7q
The NBA has yet to outline any formal allegations against Porter, who has yet to comment publicly and whose union has promised to provide him with resources. Porter’s brother, Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., has also said he “highly” doubts Jontay would do anything to put his basketball career at risk.
Yet Silver’s statements suggest the NBA is looking at Porter for possibly being involved in wagering on league games, which players are forbidden from doing.
Two games in particular over the past few months are at the heart of the NBA’s investigation, according to ESPN, which first reported the investigation. On January 26 and March 20, DraftKings Sportsbook users hammered the Under on several props involving Porter, which won them enough for the company to report those markets as being among the top “NBA Moneymakers” for those days.
The wagering evidently caused enough concern to prompt the NBA’s probe. The two games were played in Toronto, and Ontario regulators and police are looking into the matter as well.
'This is not new'
It’s an awkward situation for the NBA, which, like other leagues, has formed partnerships with sportsbook operators and embraced the business opportunities provided by the spread of legal sports gambling in the U.S. and Canada.
NBA players and even one coach have recently reported irritation and concerns about their interactions with fans and bettors in the age of widespread wagering. And, when combined with scandals in other leagues, there is an increased worry about what all this gambling means for the future of sports.
However, Silver suggested people were and are still able to wager illegally on sports, and he noted there were incidents predating the boom in legal betting that began in 2018. Moreover, the regulation of wagering offers ways for leagues to be tipped off to any integrity concerns and to act on them, something they can’t do with entities that are not regulated at all.
“This is not new, that there's unsavory behavior, even illegal behavior, around sports betting,” Silver said. “I guess my point is that, to the extent it's going to exist, that if you have a regulated environment, that you're going to have a better chance of detecting it than you would if all the bets were placed illegally.”
Getting the feds involved
Silver also said his personal preference for sports betting would be for federal legislation governing the industry, rather than the current state-by-state patchwork of rules.
"This is a burgeoning industry in the United States," Silver said. "It's been legal in other places in the world for decades. There's lessons to be learned from the way sports betting is monitored and regulated in other jurisdictions. And again, I think as these unfortunate examples come along, we may have to adjust our rules and our partner gaming companies and those companies that aren't our partners may have to adjust their behavior as well."
