Stephen A. Smith believes that Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter betting on his own games is a more serious offense than disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
The NBA on Wednesday announced that Porter was banned for life after an investigation revealed his gambling activity. According to the league, the 24-year-old gave confidential information to bettors about his health status and deliberately minimized his own play. On several occasions, he even bet on the team to lose.
On Wednesday’s episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith first explained how Porter’s scandal was worse than that of former MLB player Pete Rose — the all-time great who bet on baseball games but claimed to have never bet on his own team. Then, Smith took it a step further by claiming it was even worse than Sterling’s messy breakup from the Clippers. After recordings surfaced of Sterling showing a clear prejudice against Black people, including Lakers great Magic Johnson, the league forced him to sell the team and banned him for life.
“This is an egregious crime,” Smith said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m gonna say it if nobody else says it: this was worse than Donald Sterling, the former owner for the Los Angeles Clippers who was banned by Adam Silver for life and forced to give up ownership of the Clippers franchise.
“As egregious as Donald Sterling was, as much as he deserved to be gone, as better off as the league is with him being gone, him simply asking a mistress, ‘Why do you have to be around Black people?’ — sounded like a plantation owner, by the way… I’ll concede that; but that’s not, in terms of his actions, in the same ballpark as what Jontay Porter purportedly has done. That’s automatic banishment, y’all. You can’t do what Jontay Porter is proclaimed to have done to the league. You can’t.”
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com