There was a brief pause before Michael Porter Jr. came to his brother’s defense. 

Porter spoke about his younger brother Jontay, a two-way player for the Raptors, being investigated by the NBA after some irregularities surrounding his prop bets was uncovered for the first time following Wednesday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday at Ball Arena. 

“Not necessarily anything I want to say, no,” Michael Porter Jr. started his response. “I mean, know what you guys know. I know Jontay loves the game of basketball. He’s really excited to play. He’s been really excited to play with the Raptors. I know just as much as you guys know at this point. I’ve known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is, and I know he’s excited to play basketball. I highly doubt he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.” 

Jontay Porter last played for Toronto on Friday and has been held out of the last three games as the investigation continues. The issue stems from a couple of games where Jontay Porter left the game just minutes after entering as a reserve, all but ensuring the under would hit on his individual stats. The first occurrence was a Jan. 26 game when the younger of the two NBA brothers reaggravated an eye injury, according to the team. The second was Toronto’s March 20 game against Sacramento. Jontay Porter played three minutes before leaving with an illness. 

As sports betting is increasingly popular nationwide, Michael Porter Jr. said players hear from fans regularly about their impact on specific wagers. 

“Every night you’re disappointing someone. You’re disappointing the people, if you score too much, because they may have bet on your under, and you’re disappointing people if you didn’t score enough,” the Nuggets forward said. “It’s part of the game now. I think that it’s obviously a dangerous habit. It’s a dangerous vice for people. I think the love of money is the root of all evil. I think that even though it is a thing, we as players just have to accept that.” 

While Ball Arena doesn’t have an on-site sportsbook like some other NBA arenas where sports betting is legal, the Nuggets have had a gambling analyst as part of the in-game entertainment the last couple of games. Various lines and individual prop bets are displayed on the video board at different points, and fans can often be heard encouraging players. 

“We get paid a lot of money to play this game, and I know the people, these fans, they want to make some money as well. If they want to put their hard earnings on us, we appreciate that you put your trust in us, I guess,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “It’s definitely something that has kind of taken over the sports world. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.” 

While the National Football League has suspended players for gambling and Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is in the middle of Major League Baseball’s big gambling controversy, Jontay Porter’s the first NBA player to be subjected to such an investigation. When Jontay and the Raptors were in town earlier in March, he credited his second chance at the NBA to an assist from Michael, who lobbied Denver’s front office to give his brother a spot on the Summer League squad. 

“I just had a blast. I had so much fun,” Jontay told The Denver Gazette of the Summer League stint. “I realized I can still do this even though it wasn’t like I was killing it out there or anything. I just felt good, and I felt a little bit back to myself. After that, I was determined to keep this thing rolling.”