Jontay Porter

Jontay Porter (/ˈdʒɒnteɪ/ JON-tay; born November 15, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Super Hawks of the USBL. Porter was banned for life by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2024 for violating their gambling policies while playing for the Toronto Raptors. The scandal resulted in him facing criminal charges, for which he pled guilty.

Porter played college basketball for the Missouri Tigers where he played alongside his older brother, Michael Porter Jr. He was awarded as the Southeastern Conference Sixth Man of the Year during his freshman season. Porter was an early entrant in the 2019 NBA draft but went unselected, and started his professional career in 2020 on a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies and spent time with their NBA G League affiliate Memphis Hustle. He sat out the 2021–22 season after he was waived by Memphis. Porter joined the Wisconsin Herd of the G League for the 2022–23 season, and after starting the 2023–24 season with the G League's Motor City Cruise, Porter was signed by the Toronto Raptors on a two-way contract with the Raptors 905.

Much like his older brother Michael, Porter started out his high school career playing for Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School in their home town of Columbia, Missouri. In his freshman year, he averaged 11.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for Father Tolton before being a key figure in helping them win the Missouri Class 3 State Championship for the first time during his sophomore season. In his junior year of high school, Porter and Michael, along with their younger brother Coban, moved to Seattle, Washington, after his father earned an assistant coaching job at the University of Washington for their basketball team. During Porter's and Michael's time at Nathan Hale High School, the brothers were coached by former NBA All-Star Brandon Roy, who helped lead the squad to a perfect 29–0 record and the Washington Class 3A State Championship. Under the coaching of Roy, Porter averaged a double-double of 14.3 points and 13.6 rebounds per game for Nathan Hale High School, thus earning a name for himself alongside his older brother.

Porter was previously a recruit under the Class of 2018, with him being ranked as high as 11th overall by ESPN at one point. However, after his father was hired as an assistant coach for the University of Missouri, his older brother changed his commitment from the University of Washington to his hometown University of Missouri, and Brandon Roy changed coaching positions from Nathan Hale to Garfield High School, Porter reclassified himself into the Class of 2017 alongside his brother, joining his family out at the University of Missouri. Between his time preparing for his transfer from high school into college, Porter grew two more inches, thus allowing him to play as a power forward, with center being a viable possibility as well.

Porter, five days before his 18th birthday, made his season debut on November 10, 2017, in a 74–59 win over Iowa State University. Three days after his debut, he recorded 11 points and 8 rebounds in a blowout 99–55 win over Wagner College. One week later, Porter recorded his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 67–62 win over Emporia State University. On January 10, 2018, Porter made his first start of the season for Missouri, recording a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 68–56 win over the University of Georgia. Porter continued starting for the team during the next five games before returning to the bench for the rest of the season. On February 27, Porter scored a season-high 24 points to go with a team-leading 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a 74–66 win over Vanderbilt University. In his last game of the season, he started for Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. On April 5, Porter announced he would enter the 2018 NBA draft alongside his brother. However, unlike Michael Porter Jr., he entered the draft without hiring an agent first, thus allowing him the possibility to return to Missouri for another year if he was willing to do so. On the May 30 draft day deadline, Porter decided to return to Missouri instead of entering the NBA Draft early where he was seen as a likely first round pick, possibly joining his brother Michael in the lottery had he stayed in. Porter was seen as potential lottery pick for the 2019 NBA draft.

On October 21, 2018, it was announced that Porter would miss his sophomore season after tearing both the ACL and MCL in his right knee during a scrimmage. While rehabilitating, Porter tore his ACL again on March 23, 2019. Despite the injury and Porter's stock plummeting, Porter entered his name for the 2019 NBA draft as one of 233 early-entrant participants. Porter was also one of 66 original participants included in the 2019 NBA Draft Combine. 89 players removed their names from draft consideration at the May 30 deadline, but Porter chose to remain eligible in the 2019 NBA draft's entry pool. After his injuries, Porter was seen as a late first round or second round pick.

Porter was not chosen in the 2019 NBA draft, partially due to teams wary of his injury history. On March 8, 2020, Porter signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. During his rookie season's free agency period, Porter was reported to have been granted access to a VIP account on FanDuel due to him already having a habit of Wall Street day trading and cryptocurrency investments, though this would not come to light until 2025. On November 22, 2020, the Memphis Grizzlies announced that they had re-signed Porter, this time to a multi-year contract. On July 30, 2021, he was waived by the Grizzlies after making 11 appearances. Porter joined the Denver Nuggets for the 2022 NBA Summer League.

On November 3, 2022, Porter was named to the opening night roster of the Wisconsin Herd, the G League team affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks.