After being hit with a ban by the NBA for gambling, former player Jontay Porter revealed how much he bet and some dark thoughts he had after it.
Speaking to The New Yorker, Porter revealed that he had suicidal thoughts. He allegedly went to a gun range “just to blow off steam.” One night, he held a gun to his head, which his wife wasn't even aware of.
“I went to the gun range for a few times just to blow off steam, and there was one incident where I—I don't even think my wife knows this, but, like, held it to my head,” Porter recalled. “I was just, like, crying, like, ‘I can't do this anymore, I can't.'
He was scared that his wife was going to leave him in the wake of everything happening. Porter estimated that he bet around $500 million in lifetime wagers. There was an 18-month stretch where he bet over $50 million at FanDuel. He even took out a $500,000 loan on his house, blowing all of it betting on Russian ping-pong and resulting in him selling the house.
Now, Porter is going to therapy for his gambling problem, as he told The New Yorker. Hopefully, he is getting the treatment he needs.
The NBA gave Porter a lifetime ban for sports gambling in April 2024. At the time, he was on the Toronto Raptors, his second NBA team.
Since receiving the ban, he has continued playing. Porter joined the United States Basketball League's Seattle Super Hawks in 2026. He led the team to a championship and won league MVP.
He previously went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft after playing college basketball at Missouri. Porter, the younger brother of Michael Porter Jr., joined the Memphis Grizzlies in 2020. He played in 37 games and started five of them in the NBA. Porter averaged 3.7 points per game.