Jontay Porter’s days in the NBA could be numbered.
Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that Porter could be banned from the league if he’s found guilty of betting on the NBA.
“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 launched an investigation into the Raptors forward and the brother of Michael Porter Jr. in late March after “multiple instances of betting irregularities” involving Porter’s prop bets in two games.
Porter, who played just 13.8 minutes per game across 26 contests this season, reportedly generated increased interest for his prop bets on Jan. 26 and March 20.
Multiple sportsbooks reported unusual betting interest in Porter’s “unders” in those games.
ESPN reported that sportsbook accounts tried to bet amounts of upwards of $10,000 and $20,000 on Porter unders for the Jan. 26 game.
On Jan. 26, Porter left the game against the Clippers early with a supposed eye injury, which he suffered a few days earlier, playing just four minutes, collecting three rebounds and dishing out one assist.
Then, on March 20 against the Kings, Porter left with a reported illness after logging three minutes.
After news broke of Porter’s potential wrongdoings in March, an NBA spokesperson told ESPN that the league was “looking into it.”
“I mean, this is not new that there’s unsavory behavior, even illegal behavior, around sports betting,” Silver said Wednesday. “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.”