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Preview

No matter how this plays out, Jontay Porter allegations mean NBA has a problem

TORONTO — A quick story that was relayed to me recently: 

An NBA player of note goes out for dinner after a game with another well-known athlete from another sport, now retired.

The first topic of conversation?

The player’s dinner companion says that the player cost him $500,000.

Why? Because the retired athlete had bet that the player he was out for dinner with would score more than a certain number of points for the game that night but left the game early, one point short.

“Man, if I’d known, I would have checked back in,” the player says to laughs all around.

Another example: A veteran player who has been on and off the injured list over the course of a season has a friend who loves to place bets and texts him regularly to find out if he’s playing when he’s been listed as questionable.

The simple solution for the player is to ignore him, but if he happens to reply — one way or the other — and the friend benefits on a bet?

It might not look very good for anyone involved if it were ever red-flagged.

From strangers on the street wanting to know lineup information, to friends of players asking for inside information, to fans online complaining when a bet didn’t go their way, it’s hard for NBA players to withstand the whirlwind of legalized betting that swirls around them.

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Toronto Raptors forward Kelly Olynyk discusses the trials and tribulations the Raptors have undergone this season and how the team has been trying to keep basketball at the forefront of their focus despite unaccounted-for circumstances.
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    “All anyone talks to players about now,” said one player agent who didn’t want his name used, “is their stupid, f---ing bets.”

    It is very much the environment professional sports exists in now, especially since sports betting has been legalized in most jurisdictions in North America.

    The point was driven home on Monday night when ESPN reported that Toronto Raptors two-way big man Jontay Porter was being investigated by the NBA for two games in which he may have manipulated his performance to benefit bettors wagering that he would not hit certain statistical targets.

    Porter, who missed the Raptors' most recent game for personal reasons and was not at practice on Tuesday, allegedly pulled himself from games after just a few minutes, with his statistics falling well short of the betting lines. Meanwhile, DraftKings reported that there was a surge of interest in bettors' under totals before each game and that bets on Porter’s performance were the most profitable on the platform each day.

    Given Porter’s status — as a reserve centre on a non-playoff team who doesn’t even have a full-time NBA contract — the idea of him being at the centre of so much gambling activity would seem to raise a red flag or two or three.

    It remains to be seen how widely this all spools out.

    Is it all just some remarkable coincidence that significantly better traffic was generated by Porter on the same day he pulled himself from games — not just once, but twice?

    Is Porter part of some kind of organized scheme in which he was paid up front by a third party to compromise his play and then that person or organization used that knowledge to lay bets in a large enough volume to make up for what Porter was (hypothetically) paid and still turn a significant enough profit? This, while keeping in mind that Porter will earn $415,000 this year and is on the cusp of an opportunity to make multiples of that if he can achieve his lifelong goal of cracking an NBA roster full-time.

    In the above scenario, did Porter (allegedly) do it willingly? Or will we learn he was somehow coerced?

    Or maybe it’s the simplest scenario of all: Porter saw an opportunity as a relatively low-impact player on a losing team playing games of limited consequence where he could no-show for a few games, and he and a small circle of "friends" would benefit. Perhaps — like news of a house party being spread on social media, and a riot following — word of a sure thing got out and spread like wildfire.

    Is it all a misunderstanding? One man acting alone? Organized crime? Or a 24-year-old who saw an angle but didn’t think through all of the possible consequences and now may be facing the end of his basketball career.

    The latter doesn’t seem entirely implausible. In a story by Adam Laskaris for the DailyHive.com that outlines the Raptors big man’s passion for stock tips, cryptocurrency trading and the odd bit of sports gambling talk, it seems that Porter has a passion for finding ways to turn a quick profit and an enthusiasm for sharing his information.

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    Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic provides an update on how the team is handling the NBA’s investigation of forward Jontay Porter and emphasizes his priority to keep the team's focus on playing basketball.
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      But we’ll see. Regardless, the NBA and Porter have a problem. If it turns out it was just Porter trying to pull a fast one, he’s proven how easily NBA results can be manipulated to benefit bettors, which should be a red flag. If it turns out that Porter was somehow the victim of coercion by shady underworld types, well, the league might have a bigger issue on its hands. And if it ends up Porter turns out to be a 20-something with an an itch to turn a quick buck, well, the league needs to tighten up its messaging against players gambling on NBA-adjacent events because it’s unlikely that Porter is the only player who might fit that profile.

      But nothing the league can do will likely curb the volume of fan-player interactions on the subject of gambling. That will likely depend on the common sense and integrity of the players themselves.

      On one level, risking your career and your reputation to bet on anything to do with the NBA, let alone quitting on your team so you or someone around you can turn a temporary profit, seems like the kind of thing most people would only have to be told about once.

      As another agent said to me: “I honestly never run into this because it goes without saying. It’s like, know what a travel is, or double dribble. Players know you just don’t do it. And on top of that, they’re constantly reminded by the union not to do it. If a guy still does it, he’s got a gambling addiction, has serious money issues or is stupid to the point he can’t distinguish right from wrong.”

      The Raptors had a team meeting on Tuesday to brush up on existing league policies and rules around gambling, but for veteran Bruce Brown, it was unnecessary. He says that apart from the ubiquitous social media noise from fans upset about bets, those around him know better than to pry him for information or drag him into temptation.

      “All my people know not to hit me up about stuff like that,” Brown said. “Even if they do, like, I won't answer. I won't say anything. … Everybody knows I can't do it. Everybody knows what the rules are. People around me know the rules. So, they know I'm not for any of that.”

      But no one has ever been wrong in betting on the possibility of young men with money to burn and time on their hands being prone to bouts of poor judgment.

      Sure, there are warnings about gambling on professional basketball (NBA players can gamble on other sports, as long as it’s with a legally recognized bookmaker in a jurisdiction where sports betting is allowed) posted in every NBA locker room, and, yes, the league and the players association have education programs to warn players of the risks posed by gambling, but people are people, NBA players included.

      “The NBA’s the best job in the world, but it’s still a job, and just like any other job, no one wants to be at work a second longer than they have to,” said one agent. “So, they have those meetings after practices about this stuff and guys aren’t paying attention, they just want to get out of there as soon as possible.”

      In that regard, perhaps the Porter situation will serve a greater benefit. The league and players certainly have a lot to gain by being so cozy with legalized sports betting — the teams and players share basketball-related income on a roughly 50-50 basis, after all.

      But they have a lot to lose if fans and gamblers alike can’t trust that the product on the floor represents a fair and honest competition.

      However the Porter story ends up breaking, the shock of it could serve a purpose.

      As one of the agents I spoke with put it, “This [guy] will be a wake-up call for everyone.”

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