After his New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament, guaranteeing them a spot in the playoffs, Larry Nance Jr. made a joke at the expense of Jontay Porter, a Toronto Raptors two-way player the league banned for life earlier this week for tipping off bettors who gambled on NBA games.

During the press conference following the Pelicans' 105-98 home victory, Nance took a moment to say that he was “betting” on New Orleans — but just not like Porter.

“Respectfully, I'm betting on the Pels. I'm not betting. No Jontay Porter. I'm not betting. I'm not betting on anything. I don't own a betting app, none of that,” Nance said while laughing as the media room became filled with laughter as well.

Jontay Porter betting scandal, explained

Former NBA player Jontay Porter

The NBA banned Jontay Porter, the younger brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., for life on April 17 after it found that Porter had passed along information to those who bet on games in which he played. The allegations of gambling first popped up on March 25 when it was reported that the league was investigating Porter for suspicious betting activity on his player props.

The player prop market around Porter, a fringe NBA player who had spent most of his time in the G-League since going undrafted in 2019, proved to be far too active; DraftKings twice announced that Porter's player props were the biggest winners of the day. The first time this happened was on Jan. 26, when a bettor placed a wager on the under for Porter's made three-pointers, while the other was on March 20, just days before the report of the investigation. In both instances, Porter left the game after just a few minutes with a supposed injury or illness.

On Jan. 26 against the Los Angeles Clippers, a game in which there was a notable prop bet made on Porter, the Raptors reserve player claimed he had re-aggravated an injury with his eye and exited the game after fewer than five minutes played. Porter again exited a game early on March 20 against the Sacramento Kings; Porter claimed he was suffering from an illness and left the game after fewer than three minutes played.

A few weeks after it opened its investigation, the NBA announced it had decided to permanently ban Porter from ever playing or being involved in the league again. The NBA said it had found through the course of its investigation that Porter had been “disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.” Porter allegedly bet on at least a dozen NBA games and had wagered that the Raptors would lose in some instances.

Porter's lifetime ban mirrors MLB's punishment of Pete Rose, the league's all-time hits leader who was found to have bet on baseball games in which he played and managed while a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Rose, a surefire Hall of Famer, was permanently banned from MLB in 1989 and two years later, barred from ever being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.