Michael Porter Jr. has spoken up about NBA players facing a sports betting landscape that has only gotten worse.
During his recent appearance on the “One Night with Steiny” podcast, the Brooklyn Nets forward addressed the compromised authenticity of basketball among young people. He highlighted teenagers making large sums of money by turning their basketball games into content, which he believes takes away from the purity of the game.
The discussion then turned to sports gambling. Podcast host Steiny initially tried to steer clear of the topic, given that the NBA banned MPJ’s younger brother Jontay Porter for allegedly gambling on games.
But Porter Jr. did not shy away from the conversation. Instead, the Nets star tried to explain the temptation athletes face amid the rise of sports betting.
“The integrity of the game, the sports gambling stuff can affect that a lot,” said Porter Jr. “Think about it. You get mad at these dudes that do the sports betting. But think about if you could get all your homies rich by telling them, ‘Yo, bet $10,000 on my under. This one game, I’m going to act like I’ve got an injury. I’ll sit out and come out after three minutes. And they all get a little bag because you did it one game.
“That is so not okay. But some people probably think like that. They come from nothing and all their homies have nothing. … Obviously, my brother went through his situation. Malik Beasley’s going through a situation. Terry Rozier’s in some hot water. But the whole sports gambling entity, it’s bad, and it’s only going to get worse, bro.”
Nothing would make one question the integrity of a sport more than discovering that players are manipulating results based on sports bets. The messages Jontay Porter allegedly sent his co-conspirators are evidence of that.
While Porter Jr.’s explanation holds some truth to it, it’s hard to sympathize with players who would even consider taking a dive for a bet to help their friends. Beasley and Rozier have earned a combined $200 million in career earnings. While Jontay Porter had yet to land a huge deal before getting banned, he was still making an NBA salary and had a brother signed to a nine-figure contract.
Porter Jr. also spoke openly about players receiving death threats from salty sports bettors. He singled out Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, who had a backbreaking drop in the last two minutes of his team’s AFC Divisional Round game against the Buffalo Bills. The on-field mistake had some fans threatening Andrews for losing them a bet or parlay.
