Jontay Porter tells New Yorker about life after NBA ban

The profile, written by Nick Berardini, is the first time Porter has told his side at this length, and the hardest part to read is about what happened after the ban.

Legion Hoops

@LegionHoops

Jontay Porter says he thought about ending it all after his NBA gambling ban “There was one incident where I—I don’t even think my wife knows this—but I held it to my head and I was just crying: ‘I can’t do this anymore.’” (via @NewYorker, h/t @TheNBABase)

According to the reporting, Porter Googled whether he could still go to Heaven if he killed himself and then bought a gun. What stopped him, he said, was his unborn son: "I can't leave this earth without meeting him." The piece also points to a brutal number. Gambling has the highest suicide rate of any addiction, with nearly 20% of addicts attempting to take their own lives. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 in the US.

Quick refresher on how he got here. Porter was a Toronto Raptors big man when the NBA banned him for life on April 17, 2024, the first active player banned for gambling since Jack Molinas in 1954. He and his associates had placed bets on his own individual stat lines. In July 2024 he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and his sentencing is still pending, with a likely range of 41-51 months. He is also Michael Porter Jr.'s younger brother, and the 2 of them played together at Missouri.

Then there are the numbers, which barely seem real.

Legion Hoops

@LegionHoops

Jontay Porter wagered at least $500 million on gambling in his life — also won over $1 million betting on Russian table tennis for three days straight. (@NewYorker)

That $500 million is the total amount he bet, not the amount he lost. When you keep throwing your winnings back in, the handle stacks up fast. Still, the details are wild. Porter said he bet more than $50 million at FanDuel alone over about 18 months, and his VIP host said he was at one point the biggest bettor on the site. It started with day-trading and online casinos while he was with the Memphis Hustle, then grew into a $125,000 bet on the Chiefs against the Ravens in Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season. Eventually it got to Russian table tennis, where he made more than $1 million in 3 days.

The headline of the piece says the rest. A guy who got deep into FanDuel and into debt with the wrong people decided the only way out was to bet on himself. It's the nightmare scenario the NBA's integrity people lose sleep over, and in this case it happened to a real player on a real roster.

The strangest part might be where Porter has ended up. He is in regular therapy for his gambling addiction, and he says getting caught saved him: "I'm thankful to God that the F.B.I. investigated. Because if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be sitting here today." He still has a sentencing date coming. But he also has a son he decided he had to meet, and that makes this a different story from a guy who just blew up his career.