By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In 2024, Jontay Porter’s NBA career ended abruptly when the league issued him a lifetime ban for gambling.
Investigators found that he had been disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games, eventually uncovering wagers on 13 league games between January and March.
The fallout from the scandal sparked an immediate, severe personal crisis that nearly cost Porter his life. As the public backlash grew, his wife, Kelli, considered divorcing him. In deep isolation, Porter bought a gun.
“There was one incident where 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,’” he shared with The New Yorker on Monday.
“I can’t leave this earth without meeting him,” he added referring to thoughts about his son who was born in 2024.
Though he hasn’t placed a wager since before his arrest more than two years ago, he estimates he has bet at least half a billion dollars in his life. The 26-year-old forward-center remains in regular therapy. “This war on my soul is going to continue,” he explained.
Porter entered the NBA in 2020 with the Memphis Grizzlies before moving in 2023 to the Toronto Raptors. Following his ban, a request to play in Greece for Promitheas was denied, but recently signed with the Seattle Super Hawks for the 2026 United States Basketball League season.
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