Larry Nance Jr. was trying to make a point that he doesn’t see the Pelicans as underdogs against the top-seeded Thunder and Jontay Porter wound up taking a ricochet shot.
Nance Jr. was speaking to reporters after the Pelicans defeated the Kings, 108-105, in the NBA play-in tournament to earn the eighth seed in the NBA playoffs.
The Pelicans will face the Thunder, who finished 57-25 and won a tiebreaker with the Nuggets to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
“Respectfully, I’m betting on the Pels,” Nance Jr. said after the game.
“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.”
The media members in the room laughed uproariously.
The Pelicans are +440 to win the series against the Thunder, according to the latest odds on FanDuel, and the Thunder are -650.
Taking out the vig, this means that the gambling odds indicate New Orleans has about an 18 percent chance to win the series.
Porter was the player on the Raptors who received a lifetime ban from the NBA this week after an investigation revealed that he consorted with a known gambler to bet “under” props on himself.
Porter also was found to have bet on NBA games through a proxy, wagering a total of about $54,000 on 13 bets and garnering a profit of nearly $22,000.
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”
