Complaint Alleges Jontay Porter ’Encouraged’ To Clear Gambling Debts

The basketball world was rocked earlier this year by the news that Jontay Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr. and a member of the Toronto Raptors on a two-way contract, would receive a lifetime ban from the NBA for violating the league’s gambling rules. There were plenty of details that the league announced following its investigation into the allegations, and on Tuesday, we learned a bit more thanks to a criminal complaint that was filed in federal court in Brooklyn against a man named Long Phi Pham.

You can read the whole thing here, but while Porter’s name does not come up — there is only a reference to “Player 1” — all the events in here match up with the two games that came under scrutiny. Perhaps the most damning thing in here is that Porter allegedly accrued so much gambling debt that he was “encouraged to clear those debts by withdrawing from certain games prematurely.”

In early 2024, Player 1 had amassed large gambling debts to certain of the co-conspirators. Player 1 was encouraged to clear those debts by withdrawing from certain games prematurely to ensure that under prop bets on Player 1’s performance were successful. On January 22, 2024, Player 1 sustained a purported eye injury during a game. He was evaluated and diagnosed with a corneal abrasion, but was not placed on the NBA injury list. Shortly before the game on January 26, 2024 (the January 26 Game) Player 1 told the defendant that he would be removing himself early from the game, claiming that he was injured. Player 1 entered the January 26 Game midway through the first quarter. After playing just four minutes and recording zero points, three rebounds and one assist, Player 1 removed himself from the game after he complained to team officials that he had reaggravated the eye injury.

This would be in reference to Porter’s game on Jan. 26 against the Los Angeles Clippers, and it had previously been reported that there was some serious money on his various unders during that game. Elsewhere in the complaint are details about the other game that came under scrutiny — Porter exiting a game in March against the Sacramento Kings after less than three minutes. Two weeks later, after the allegations came to light, Porter allegedly contacted all of the co-conspirators in the case and claimed that the group “might just get hit w a rico.” There are three other co-conspirators in this case, but they remain at large.