Former SEC Basketball Star Gets Lifetime Ban From NBA

When he was being recruited in high school, he was a 5-star prospect. Once he started his college career, he was named to the conference All-Freshman team. But when he got to the NBA, his story is going to be more about how his career ended than anything he did on the court.

Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter has now been banned for life from the NBA for gambling related activities.

The 24-year-old Raptor's player has been under NBA investigation after "unusual circumstances" surrounding his gameplay. Investigators say that Porter left games with minor injuries, while gamblers wagered unusual numbers on Porter's personal performance in those games. The gamblers were betting heavy that Porter would underperform statistically in those games.

Based on the investigation, the NBA now believes that Porter had informed known gamblers about his health, or potential injury issues, that would then force him to have reduced playing time. This would lead to Porter under-performing statistically in those games, and would have given the betters wins. But some of those bets were "frozen" when the circumstances of the bets were flagged.

But it wasn't just about sharing information and taking himself out of games, the NBA says Porter even placed his own bets. Porter is accused of placing over a dozen bets, wagering over $54,000. These bets included a parlay where he bet that the Toronto Raptors would lose. Although in that bet, the Raptors ended up winning, so Porter didn't earn money from that. However he did win over $21,000 on the total bets in question.

Before his NBA career, Porter played SEC basketball with the Missouri Tigers. During his freshman year in the 2017-2018 season, Porter averaged 9.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. He also averaged 1.7 blocks per game over the season. Porter seemed to get better through the season, registering double-doubles against SEC competition, and even starting for Missouri during that year's NCAA Tournament.

He earned the SEC Sixth Man of the Year and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.

Before the start of his sophomore season, Porter tore his ACL. Then while rehabbing his knee, he tore his ACL again. He missed his entire sophomore season, and entered his name into the NBA Draft.

He went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft, and signed a free agent deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. He would bounce between the NBA and G-League for a few seasons. But it seemed like Porter may had found a home with Toronto, where he played in 26 games this season, and even got 5 starts. But none of that matters now, because Porter's NBA is done for good.