The Toronto Raptors have had a whirlwind season. Lawsuits, trades, injuries, players leaving for personal reasons, pizza parties, more injuries, and now…a possible gambling scandal.
On Monday night, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the NBA has opened an investigation into “prop bet fraud” surrounding Raptors big man Jontay Porter.
Porter, 24, signed a two-way contract with the Raptors at the beginning of the season, and has been away from the team for the past two games due to “personal reasons.”
According to Wojnarowski, the fraud stems from two games Porter played with the Raptors and ended up leaving the team due to injury. His first game was against the Clippers in Los Angeles on January 26, when Porter left the game after re-aggravating his eye injury. In a game against the Memphis Grizzlies a few days ago and against the Phoenix Suns on March 20, he left after playing just three minutes because of an “illness.”
The sportsbook said it had seen “increased betting activity” on Porter's prop bets in these games, particularly under bets well above the usual prop bet wagers of $1,000 to $2,000. I could see it taking.
The NBA is reportedly “looking into it,” but the Raptors have yet to make an official statement. After the Raptors lost to the Brooklyn Nets, head coach Darko Radjakovic was asked about it after the game and said he “never doubted the possibility of an injury,” adding that in Porter's case in January and March, It didn't seem to be unusual.
Raptors veteran Garrett Temple also said this after the game.
“We're surprised. At the end of the day, nothing has been proven yet. There's been an investigation and, you know, he's not only a member of our team and our organization, but he's one of the 450 people in this league. I'm also a member of the players. So my position is that we support him and we hope that's not what was implied.”
The suggestion is that Porter or his affiliates were intentionally hosting these games and placing large bets in order to win larger sums of money.
From his point of view, it's puzzling. It's been a long road for Porter to get to this point with the Raptors. During his time at the University of Missouri, Porter displayed all the skills to potentially become a future lottery pick, but multiple knee injuries derailed his path and he went undrafted. He ultimately made his NBA debut in the 2020-2021 season, appearing in 11 games with the Memphis Grizzlies before bouncing around the G League and ultimately signing a $410,000 two-way contract with the Raptors.
Porter played well in Toronto through 26 games this season, even though the Raptors were depleted in frontcourt strength due to the injury and trade of Jakob Poeltl. Porter played so well that he would be at the top of the list of young players currently on the roster who would have been considered for a long-term contract this summer. His passing, defense and shooting abilities make him an interesting fit in the Raptors' current offensive system, and he has had some performances that allow him to showcase his skill set. Perhaps if things had gone right, Porter's two-way contract would have been a multi-million dollar deal during the offseason.
But now that, along with his NBA career, is in jeopardy.
Zooming out and looking at this from an overall sports perspective, this news comes on the heels of a gambling-related scandal involving Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, and sports leagues This shows that the situation is always unstable. Opening the floodgates for gambling funds and promotions.
After all, there will always be drawbacks to the NBA inviting gambling and sports betting into their world. And Porter's situation is likely just the first.
This article will be updated once the investigation is complete.
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