Michael Porter Jr. defends brother Jontay amid basketball gambling investigation

On Monday, the league announced that Toronto Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter was being investigated due to gambling allegations. Jontay Porter played under four minutes and left games early on two separate occasions in the last three months. In both cases, injuries or illnesses were the alleged cause. Remarkably, those who bet on Jontay Porter's unders saw an insane return on their bets both times. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ... you get the idea. 

Michael Porter Jr. defends Jontay

On Wednesday night, the Denver Nuggets lost to the Phoenix Suns 104-97. Afterward, Michael Porter Jr., Jontay's older brother, was asked about the scandal surrounding his younger brother.

MPJ stood up for his younger brother Jontay, claiming that "he loves the game of basketball" and how excited he is to be playing for the Toronto Raptors. "I've known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is. I know he's excited to play basketball, and I highly doubt he would do anything to jeopardize that."

Jontay battled his way into the league, despite multiple knee injuries. After getting waived by the Detroit Pistons in October, Jontay inked a two-way deal with Toronto this past December. This season, his usage has increased for the first time in his career. He's averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 games. Some even said that, at times, Jontay, "looked like a player who could have some staying power as a role-playing, high-IQ big man in this league."

MPJ also talked about gambling's omnipresence and the impact it has on players, highlighting how frequently he hears about it from fans. "Yeah, especially in 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."

"It's definitely something that's kind of taking over the sports world." Michael Porter Jr. acknowledged. "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing," Jontay Porter has yet to comment on the situation. It remains to be seen whether some gamblers got lucky by pure coincidence or if Jontay Porter truly jeopardized his budding NBA career.