| Jontay Porter | |
| Position: | Center / power forward |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 11 |
| Weight Lbs: | 240 |
| Team: | Free agent |
| Birth Date: | 15 November 1999 |
| Birth Place: | Columbia, Missouri, U.S. |
| High School: |
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| College: | Missouri (2017–2019) |
| Draft Year: | 2019 |
| Career Start: | 2020 |
| Years1: | – |
| Team1: | Memphis Grizzlies |
| Team2: | →Memphis Hustle |
| Years3: | 2022–2023 |
| Team3: | Wisconsin Herd |
| Years4: | 2023 |
| Team4: | Motor City Cruise |
| Team5: | Toronto Raptors |
| Years6: | 2023–2024 |
| Team6: | →Raptors 905 |
| Highlights: |
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Jontay Porter (;[1] born November 15, 1999) is an American professional basketball center and power forward who last played for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). On April 17, 2024, after four seasons playing in the NBA and in the NBA's developmental G League, Porter was banned for life by the NBA for violating their gambling policies.[2] [3] The scandal would later result in him facing criminal charges.[4]
He played college basketball for the Missouri Tigers. Porter was previously listed as a recruit under the Class of 2018 before reclassifying up a year to join his older brother, Michael Porter Jr., at Missouri.
Much like his older brother Michael, Jontay started out his high school career playing under the Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School in their home town of Columbia, Missouri. In his freshman year, he averaged 11.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for Father Tolton before being a key figure in helping them win the Missouri Class 3 State Championship for the first time during his sophomore season. In his junior year of high school, Jontay and Michael, along with their younger brother Coban, moved to Seattle, Washington after his father earned an assistant coaching job at the University of Washington for their basketball team. During Jontay and Michael's time at Nathan Hale High School, the brothers were coached by former NBA All-Star Brandon Roy, who helped lead the squad to a perfect 29–0 record and the Washington Class 3A State Championship. Under the coaching of Roy, Porter averaged a double-double of 14.3 points and 13.6 rebounds per game for Nathan Hale High School, thus earning a name for himself alongside his older brother.
Porter was previously a recruit under the Class of 2018, with him being ranked as high as 11th overall by ESPN at one point.[5] However, after his father was hired as an assistant coach for the University of Missouri, his older brother changed his commitment from the University of Washington to his hometown University of Missouri, and Brandon Roy changed coaching positions from Nathan Hale to Garfield High School, Jontay reclassified himself into the Class of 2017 alongside his brother, joining his family out at the University of Missouri. Between his time preparing for his transfer from high school into college, Porter grew two more inches, thus allowing him to play as a power forward, with center being a viable possibility as well.
Porter, five days before his 18th birthday, made his season debut on November 10, 2017, in a 74–59 win over Iowa State University. Three days after his debut, he recorded 11 points and 8 rebounds in a blowout 99–55 win over Wagner College. One week later, Porter recorded his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 67–62 win over Emporia State University. On January 10, 2018, Porter made his first start of the season for Missouri, recording a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 68–56 win over the University of Georgia.[6] Porter continued starting for the team during the next five games before returning to the bench for the rest of the season. On February 27, Porter scored a season-high 24 points to go with a team-leading 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a 74–66 win over Vanderbilt University. In his last game of the season, he started for Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. On April 5, Porter announced he would enter the 2018 NBA draft alongside his brother. However, unlike Michael Porter Jr., he entered the draft without hiring an agent first, thus allowing him the possibility to return to Missouri for another year if he was willing to do so.[7] On the May 30 draft day deadline, Porter decided to return to Missouri instead of entering the NBA Draft early where he was seen as a likely first round pick, possibly joining his brother Michael in the lottery had he stayed in. Porter was seen as potential lottery pick for the 2019 NBA draft.[8]
On October 21, 2018, it was announced that Porter would miss his sophomore season after tearing both his ACL and MCL in a scrimmage.[9] While rehabilitating, Porter tore his ACL again on March 23, 2019.[10] Despite the injury and Porter's stock plummeting, Porter entered his name for the 2019 NBA draft as one of 233 early-entrant participants.[11] [12] Porter was also one of 66 original participants included in the 2019 NBA Draft Combine.[13] 89 players removed their names from draft consideration at the May 30 deadline, but Porter chose to remain eligible in the 2019 NBA draft's entry pool.[14] After his injuries, Porter was seen as a late first round or second round pick.[15]
Porter was not chosen in the 2019 NBA draft, partially due to teams wary of his injury history.[16] On March 8, 2020, Porter signed with the Memphis Grizzlies.[17] [18] On November 22, 2020, the Memphis Grizzlies announced that they had re-signed Porter, this time to a multi-year contract.[19] On July 30, 2021, he was waived by the Grizzlies after making 11 appearances.[20]
Porter joined the Denver Nuggets for the 2022 NBA Summer League.[21]
On November 3, 2022, Porter was named to the opening night roster of the Wisconsin Herd, the G League team affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks.[22]
On October 2, 2023, Porter signed with the Detroit Pistons,[23] but was waived on October 21.[24] Nine days later, he joined the Pistons' G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.[25]
On December 9, 2023, Porter signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors.[26]
On March 25, 2024, ESPN reported that the NBA had opened an investigation of Porter for "multiple instances of betting irregularities over the past several months".[27] On April 11, the Colorado Division of Gaming issued an instruction to state sportsbook operators to immediately report any potential wagering on "NBA affiliated games" by accounts connected to Porter.[28]
The investigation centered on irregularities found related to proposition bets around Porter's individual statistics. On March 20, during a game against the Sacramento Kings, the NBA said Porter "disclosed confidential information about his own health status" to an individual known to be a sports bettor.[29] Yet another bettor then wagered $80,000 on a parlay bet that Porter would not meet certain player statistics – an under bet – which would have won $1.1 million. Porter's behavior drew notice once he removed himself from the game due to illness. The size of the bet was highly irregular, which also helped raise suspicion. The bet was never paid out, and an investigation opened instead, after the sportsbook reported the unusual activity to the NBA.[30]
In its investigation, the NBA also found that between January and March 2024 Porter had placed 13 bets on NBA games using another person's account. Some of the wagers included parlay bets involving the Raptors losing. His wagers totaled $54,000 over that period, netting over $22,000 in winnings.
The NBA accused him of "disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games."
On April 17, Porter was banned for life from further play or any other involvement in the NBA and its associated leagues. He became the first active player to be banned from the NBA for gambling since Jack Molinas in 1954, as well as the first active player to be permanently banned from the NBA without any means to return since Richard Dumas in 1996.
On June 4, 2024, Long Phi Pham, an alleged co-conspirator in Porter's scheme, was arrested at JFK International Airport while attempting to flee the country.[31] Three more alleged co-conspirators were subsequently arrested: Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollad, and Ammar Awawdeh.[32] On July 3, Porter was also charged with a federal felony in relation to the case involving those four men.[33]
On July 3, 2024, court papers were made public revealing Porter's imminent criminal charges in the United States at the federal level for his role in the sports betting scandal, which then resulted in his lifetime NBA ban.[34] Porter is also undergoing a criminal investigation in Canada.[35] In the federal case on July 10, Porter would plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which could impose a range of no time in prison to up to 20 years in prison for what he did, but faces a most likely time of 41 to 51 months in prison.[36] One of the conditions related to his guilty plea was to forfeit his passport for a pre-sentence release, which forbade him to play overseas for the Promitheas Patras B.C. of the Greek Basket League.[37]
In addition to his older brother Michael Porter Jr. with the Denver Nuggets, Jontay has two older sisters, Bri and Cierra, both of whom were deemed medically retired from playing sports, both due to multiple leg injuries.[38] Cierra Porter later returned for her senior year at the University of Missouri.[39] Two of Porter's younger brothers, Coban and Jevon, played collegiate basketball as well, with Coban previously playing for the University of Denver and Jevon currently playing for Pepperdine University. Both Coban and Jevon were arrested while in college for drinking while driving, with Coban receiving an eight-year concurrent prison sentence for the vehicular homicide of 42-year-old Katharina Rothman and the injury of her passenger, Jason Blanch.[40]
|-| style="text-align:left;"|2020–21| style="text-align:left;"|Memphis| 11 || 0 || 4.9 || .533 || .375 || .600 || 1.3 || .1 || .3 || .1 || 2.0|-| style="text-align:left;"|2023–24| style="text-align:left;"|Toronto| 26 || 5 || 13.8 || .385 || .333 || .833 || 3.2 || 2.3 || .8 || .8 || 4.4|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career| 37 || 5 || 11.2 || .403 || .338 || .783 || 2.6 || 1.6 || .6 || .6 || 3.7
Source[41]
|-| align="left" | 2022–23| align="left" | Wisconsin| 15 || 8 || 27.0 || .442 || .411 || .714 || 8.5 || 2.4 || .5 || 1.5 || 13.5|-| align="left" | 2023–24| align="left" | Motor City| 10 || 10 || 33.7 || .456 || .277 || .667 || 11.1 || 2.5 || .8 || 2.8 || 16.8|-| align="left" | 2023–24| align="left" | 905| 5 || 5 || 27.0 || .607 || .682 || 1.000 || 9.2 || 4.0 || 1.4 || 2.4 || 18.8|-| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 30 || 23 || 29.2 || .475 || .395 || .727 || 9.5 || 2.7 || .7 || 2.1 || 15.5
|-| align="left" | 2020–21| align="left" | Memphis| 9 || 0 || 16.8 || .342 || .184 || .556 || 4.7 || 1.2 || .9 || 1.2 || 7.4|-| align="left" | 2022–23| align="left" | Wisconsin| 17 || 13 || 29.4 || .353 || .287 || .600 || 11.4 || 3.4 || .9 || 2.6 || 11.5|-| align="left" | 2023–24| align="left" | 905| 7 || 7 || 30.3 || .344 || .298 || .636 || 10.9 || 6.0 || 1.4 || 2.6 || 13.1|-| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 33 || 20 || 26.1 || .348 || .270 || .600 || 9.5 || 3.5 || 1.0 || 2.3 || 10.7
|-| style="text-align:left;"|2017–18| style="text-align:left;"|Missouri| 33 || 7 || 24.5 || .437 || .364 || .750 || 6.8 || 2.2 || .8 || 1.7 || 9.9