Michael Porter Jr. leaped to the defense of his younger brother, Jontay, who is being investigated for alleged gambling, saying that he would never do anything to ruin his NBA career.
The Denver Nuggets swingman took the podium following their loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, saying that Jontay Porter “loves the game of basketball” and is happy to have found a team to play for in the Toronto Raptors this season.
“I’ve known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is, and I know he’s excited to play basketball,” Michael Porter Jr. said about Jontay. “I highly doubt he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.”
Jontay Porter played in 26 regular-season games this campaign (five starts), averaging 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, and was doing well. However, he was removed from the Toronto Raptors’ lineup because he was the subject of a league investigation.
The investigation involving Jontay Porter is centered on the two games he played on January 26 and March 20, when he had little playing time against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings, respectively, because of “irregular betting patterns” surrounding his prop bets based on his stats.
As of this writing, the Toronto Raptors center has yet to make a statement about the situation and has missed the team’s last few games for “personal reasons.”
Michael Porter Jr. laments how sports betting has affected the NBA
Michael Porter Jr. has witnessed the exponential growth of sports betting over the years and said he is not a fan of regularly hearing how their performances affect bettors.
“Yeah, especially the last few years you hear people in the crowd saying what they need you to score tonight or what they don’t want you to score,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “Every night you’re disappointing someone. You’re disappointing people if you score too much because they may have bet on the under, and you’re disappointing people if you didn’t score enough.”
“So, it’s a part of the game now. I think that it’s obviously a dangerous habit. It’s a dangerous vice for people. You know, the love of money is the root of all evil. So, I think that even though it is a thing, we as players just have to accept that. We get paid a lot of money to play this game and I know these people, these fans, they want to make some money, as well,” he added.
