You could say that Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter committed a foul. Just how serious the foul turns out to be depends on the results of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s investigation. But Silver has already said that if Porter did bet on the NBA or himself, it would be considered a cardinal sin.
“I have an enormous range of discipline available to me,” Silver said after the league’s annual board of governors meetings in Manhattan. “Considering what he’s accused of in the NBA, the ultimate, extreme option I have is to ban him from the game. The investigation is ongoing, and the consequences could be very severe.”
The Porter incident is a by-product of an explosive growth in the sports betting industry in the past six years. Gambling scandals are becoming more common in professional sports. Silver said that he wishes a federal framework governing sports betting existed rather than the patchwork state-by-state approach that exists.
Gambling’s effect on pro sports goes beyond the NBA. The NFL suspended several players for betting, while Major League Baseball is in the midst of a maelstrom involving Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
The Porter investigation zeroes in on two games—January 25 and March 20— that saw a remarkable amount of bets placed on Porter props. More to the point, the bets took the under based on Porter’s stats, according to CBS Sports.
Turns out, Porter left both games early; one for an eye injury, the other an illness.
“I think as these unfortunate examples come along, we may have to adjust our rules and our partner gaming companies and those companies that aren’t our partners may have to adjust their behavior as well,” Silver said.
“At the end of the day, there’s nothing more important than the integrity of the competition. And so, any issue raised around that is of great concern to me and to all commissioners, to all people who are safeguards, who are all people who are in a position and have a responsibility to safeguard the game,” he said.
