Raptors forward Jontay Porter could be facing a lifetime ban from the NBA if the league finds the betting allegations against him to be true.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the allegations against the younger Porter on Wednesday for the first time.
“I have enormous range of discipline available to me,” Silver told reporters. “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.”
The NBA began an investigation into the brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. in late March after “multiple instances of betting irregularities” around two of Porter’s games.
The league is looking at placed prop bets featuring Porter from games on January 26 and March 20 of this year.
Multiple sportsbooks reported “increased betting interest” in Porter’s “unders” in those games.
ESPN revealed that sportsbook accounts tried to bet amounts of more than $10,000 and $20,000 on Porter’s unders for the game in question on January 26.
“I mean, 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, if you have a regulated environment, you’re going to have a better chance of detecting it than you would if all the bets were placed illegally.”
On January 26, Porter left the Raptors-Clippers game early due to a “re-aggravation of an eye injury”, which he sustained a few days earlier.
He played four minutes and recorded three rebounds and one assist, meaning the unders did indeed hit.
On March 20 against the Kings, Porter left the game with a reported illness after just three minutes.
READ MORE: Jontay Porter’s Past Exposed Amid Betting Scandal