The NBA has opened an investigation into Toronto two-way player Jontay Porter amid gambling allegations, something Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said he became aware of shortly before the team's game on Monday night.
A league spokesman confirmed that the probe had been opened. ESPN first reported the investigation, which it said surrounded Porter's performance in games on Jan. 26 and March 20. In both games, Porter played briefly before leaving citing injury or illness.
Porter played 4 minutes and 24 seconds against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first of those games, then played 2:43 against Sacramento in the second game.
“I never doubt injuries. I never doubt honestly from players,” Rajaković said. “Obviously, I've never had a situation like this before.”
In both of those games, Porter did not come close to hitting the prop-wager lines for points, rebounds and 3-pointers that bettors could play. ESPN said the props surrounding Porter for the Clippers game were 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists; he finished with no points, three rebounds and one assist. For the Kings game, they were around 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds; Porter finished that game with no points and two rebounds.
Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter (34) and forward Jordan Nwora (13) reach for the rebound during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Porter was away from the Raptors for Monday’s home game against Brooklyn, with the team citing personal reasons. He also was out for Saturday’s loss at Washington, again for personal reasons. His locker was empty ahead of Monday’s game against the Nets, although his nameplate was still in place. Rajaković said he had not discussed the matter with his team.
“I don't know their reaction,” Rajaković said. “I just know nobody wants those kind of situations to happen to anybody, to any team. We've just got to deal with it.”
In Las Vegas, Jay Kornegay, Westgate vice president of race and sports operations, said in a text message that his sportsbook received “alerts that there were betting irregularities” regarding those games but his casino didn’t have any player props up involving Porter for the dates in question.
The 24-year-old Porter, the brother of Denver forward Michael Porter, is averaging 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 games, including five starts. The 6-foot-10 Porter also played in 11 games for Memphis in the 2020-21 season.
The league requires players to attend one “anti-gambling training session conducted by their Team and/or the NBA” each year. At least four G League players have been suspended, those sanctions ranging from three to five games, for violating gambling policies this season and in 2022, six NBA 2K League players were disqualified for breaking that league's gambling-related rules.
Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter, right, pulls in a rebound as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Per NBA rules, any player who “wagers money or anything of value on any game or event in the Association or in the NBA G League” can face sanctions from Commissioner Adam Silver ranging from a fine to “perpetual disqualification” from the league.
“The rules are presented to us at the beginning of the season,” Washington forward Corey Kispert said. “They’re pretty cut and dry. They’re pretty easy to follow.”
The NBA has had business relationships with gaming companies for years, and lists FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings as official gaming partners. The league also has relationships with at least 24 other gaming operators.
Last week, Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff revealed he received threats from gamblers last season and reported it to the NBA. “They got my telephone number and were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said. “So it is a dangerous game and a fine line that we’re walking for sure.”
Bickerstaff was asked the question after All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers indicated days earlier that he's grown tired of regularly hearing criticism from people on social media about their prop bets.
Raptors forward Jordan Nwora offered a similar assessment Monday, saying he and other players routinely hear how their on-court performance affects bettors.
“All the time. Non-stop,” Nwora said in comments published by The Canadian Press. “You get messages. You hear it on the sideline. You see guys talking about it all the time. It is what it is. It comes with being in the NBA. People bet on silly things on a daily basis. So, I mean, it’s part of being in the NBA, it’s what comes with it. I get it.”
And on Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said he never bet on sports or knowingly paid any gambling debts accumulated by his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Ohtani said Mizuhara lied to him for years and stole millions from him, in what were his first public comments about the illegal gambling and theft allegations involving him and his interpreter.
AP Sports Writers Mark Anderson in Las Vegas and Andrew Seligman in Chicago, and Associated Press freelance writer Ian Harrison in Toronto contributed to this report.
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ATLANTA (AP) — Jail officials in Georgia's most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday.
They detailed “unconstitutional and illegal conditions” in Fulton County lockups in a lengthy report and suggested remedial actions. County officials said they have already started making changes to improve conditions for those in custody and that they look forward to working with the Justice Department to continue that work.
“Our investigation finds longstanding, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of the people held there,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference in Atlanta.
The report resulted from a federal investigation launched in July 2023 to examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, and conditions that may give rise to violence between people held in jails in the county, which includes most of Atlanta.
Federal authorities cited the September 2022 death of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson in a bedbug-infested cell in the Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric wing, noting that an independent autopsy conducted at his family’s request found that he died of severe neglect. Photos released by attorneys for Thompson’s family showed that his body was covered in insects and that his cell was filthy and full of garbage.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” Clarke said. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who've died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
Assaults and stabbings with “shanks” are “a feature of life" at the jail, the report states, noting that there were 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings in 2023. In some cases, officers have allowed or initiated the violence, and many attacks go unreported or are not properly documented.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was reelected last week, has consistently raised concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and staffing shortages at county facilities. He has pushed county leaders to build a new jail, which they have so far been unwilling to do, but he said he appreciates the Board of Commissioners approving up to $300 million to make improvements to the current jail.
Although county leaders and the sheriff's office are aware of the violence and have publicly spoken out against it, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis," according to the report.
Labat and Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said they have already been working together in recent months to address both structural and programming concerns.
“I think today is a time of us looking forward and not backwards,” Pitts said. “How do we accomplish some of the things that have been pointed out in the study.”
Clarke said the Justice Department is ready to work with the county.
“I'm hopeful at the end of the day that Fulton County can put in place the reforms, measures and best practices necessary so that it might stand as a model for other institutions across the country,” she said.
Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said the problems affect a large percentage of the jail population. An overwhelming majority of those in custody are in pretrial detention and have not been convicted of a crime.
“The most obvious casualties of the civil rights violations occurring in the jail are those who leave the jail in body bags,” he said. “But our investigation has revealed hundreds more injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom are just as deserving of the protections of the Constitution as all of us in this room.”
The “crisis of violence” — including stabbings, sexual assaults and killings — in the Fulton County Jail is due in part to a lack of an effective classification system, resulting in a extremely violent people and gang members being housed with vulnerable and low-risk people, he said.
Vulnerable populations, including people who are gay, transgender, young or who have serious mental illness, are particularly at risk from the violence, which causes physical injury and long-lasting trauma, the report says.
Jail officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, the report says. Officers do not receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force, they use Tasers too frequently and in “an unreasonable, unsafe manner,” and staff who use excessive force are not consistently disciplined, it states.
Fulton County has a main jail and three annexes, and investigators found that the main jail is hazardous and unsanitary, citing flooding from broken toilets and sinks, infestations of cockroaches and rodents, and filthy cells with dangerous exposed wires. There isn't enough food for detainees and the distribution services are unsanitary, the report says. That leaves detainees exposed to pest infestation, malnourishment and other harms, investigators contend.
People held in Fulton County custody receive inadequate medical and mental health care in violation of their constitutional rights, leaving them open to risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, mental health decline and death, the report states.
People with serious mental illness are routinely held in restrictive housing that exposes them to risk of serious harm, including self-injury, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report says.
The jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system in Georgia ends at age 16, so 17-year-olds are housed in county jails. They are held in restrictive housing with little time outside of their cells, leaving them susceptible to the onset of mental illness, depression and an increased risk of suicide, the report says.
Included in the report are 11 pages of “minimum remedial measures” that jail officials should implement. It ends with a warning that federal authorities could take legal action if concerns are not sufficiently addressed.
A Georgia state Senate committee formed last year to examine jail conditions in Fulton County concluded in August that county officials needed to do more to work together to address problems at the jail. It also called on the city of Atlanta to hand over all of its former jail to the county to house prisoners.
FILE - The Fulton County Jail is shown, April 11, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)
