The NBA world was rocked this week by allegations of Raptors player Jontay Porter betting on himself during NBA games.
The younger Porter is under investigation by the NBA after multiple instances of betting irregularities over the last few months, ESPN revealed earlier this week.
There are two games the league is specifically looking into from January 26 and March 20 of this season.
Jontay is the brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., who on Wednesday after the Nuggets’ 104-97 loss to the Suns at home, came out and defended his younger brother.
“I’ve known my brother my whole life,” MPJ said. “I know what type of dude he is and I know he’s excited to play basketball, and I highly doubt he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.”
After the allegations were made public, Jontay’s past was also exposed, which includes a long history of exploring creative ways to make money.
Jontay’s brother went on to explain how sports betting has somewhat taken over the game of basketball and he’s not sure how to feel about it.
“Yeah, especially the last few years you hear people in the crowd saying what they need you to score tonight or what they don’t want you to score,” he said. “Every night you’re disappointing someone. You’re disappointing people if you score too much because they may have bet on the under, and you’re disappointing people if you didn’t score enough.
“So, it’s a part of the game now. I think that it’s obviously a dangerous habit. It’s a dangerous vice for people. You know, the love of money is the root of all evil. So, I think that even though it is a thing, we as players just have to accept that. We get paid a lot of money to play this game, and I know these people, these fans, they want to make some money, as well.
“It’s definitely something that has kind of taken over the sporting world – I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
