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Who are Michael Porter Jr.’s brothers?
Image credit: ClutchPoints

In the heat of the Denver Nuggets and Michael Porter Jr. trying to defend their title, the Nuggets’ sharpshooter has had to deal with a lot of family drama. In a matter of weeks, three of Porter’s brothers have gotten in serious trouble; two of them with the law, and one of them with the NBA.

Michael, meanwhile, just had his best playoff series to date in a gentleman’s sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. His ability to focus and thrive despite the outside noise and distractions closely tied to him should be commended, but in this article, we are going to take a closer look at who Porter’s brothers are and why they are in trouble.

Who are Michael Porter Jr.’s sisters?

The Porter family is a rather large one. Michael’s parents are Michael Porter Sr. and Lisa Porter. Together, they had eight children. Basketball runs in the family, as all of them have ties to the sport. While Michael’s brothers have been in the news recently, he also has sisters who have thrived on the hardwood.

Michael’s eldest sister is named Bri. She played her college ball at Missouri from 2014-16, which started a trend of Porter family members playing their collegiate ball for the Tigers. After all, Missouri is the Porter family’s home state. Bri played two seasons, where she totaled 33 points before her career was cut short because of an ACL injury.

Bri isn’t Michael’s only older sister who played for Missouri, though. Cierra Porter actually teamed up with her sister for one year at Mizzou. Cierra’s career with the Tigers was impressive. In her four years on the team, she averaged 10.1 points per game. Her best season came during her sophomore season when she averaged 13.2 points.

There is one more Porter sister as well. Jayda Porter is the youngest sister in the family, and her basketball future looks bright. She is currently in high school, where she is a budding star for Rock Bridge High School in Missouri.

Who are Michael Porter Jr.’s brothers?

Michael Porter Jr.'s brother Jontay Porter on the Raptors Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

As stated above, it has not been a good few weeks for Michael Porter Jr.’s brothers. The most prominent of his brothers is Jontay Porter, and he was just banned from the NBA for life. Jontay famously played his high school ball at Nathan Hale in Seattle, Washington (after transferring from Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School) with his brother Michael.

That Nathan Hale squad was the best in the nation. NBA legend Brandon Roy coached the team to a 29-0 record and a state championship. Jontay was one of the top recruits in the nation for the class of 2018, but he ended up reclassifying into the 2017 class so he could attend Missouri at the same time as Michael, who was the top recruit in the nation. The duo would be coached by their father, Michael Sr., who took an assistant coaching job on the team.

While Michael sat out most of his freshman season because of a back injury, Jontay thrived in his first year of college basketball. His late growth spurt allowed him to thrive as a big man despite having wing-like skills. Jontay could shoot, pass, and dribble the ball exceptionally well for a front court player.

Jontay had a promising collegiate career ahead of him, but unfortunately, he tore his ACL and MCL in a scrimmage before his sophomore season, which forced him to miss that campaign. While rehabbing, Jontay again tore his ACL. Jontay’s injury red flags were a concern for teams, but he decided to enter the 2019 NBA Draft nonetheless. Jontay ended up going undrafted because of his injuries, but his talent was worth a gamble for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis gave Jontay a multi-year deal, and he ended up making 11 appearances for the team – he also spent some time with the Memphis Hustle of the G-League – before being waived. From there, Jontay bounced around some in the G-League. He played for the Wisconsin Herd and the Motor City Cruise before he was given a chance by the Toronto Raptors during the 2023-24 season.

Toronto was under a rebuild that saw them trade a number of their best players, and therefore, Jontay would have a chance to prove himself. He was doing just that and was seemingly finding himself a long term home in the process before the unthinkable happened. On March 25, 2024, it was reported that Jontay was under investigation for gambling irregularities.

The investigation stemmed from games where large wagers were placed on Jontay’s under bets. Subsequently, Jontay played low minutes in those games after subbing out early. On April 17, the NBA banned Jontay for life. They found that he disclosed confidential information to sports betters, limited his participation in games, and placed 13 sports bets of his own, including parlays that had his own team losing. His ban made him the 16th person banned from the NBA for life.

Unfortunately, Porter’s punishment wasn’t the only one inflicted on the Porter family as of recent. Additionally, Michael’s brother Coban was sentenced to six years in prison on April 19. Coban pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide after striking and killing Katharina Rothman on Jan. 22, 2023.

Coban, who played college basketball at the University of Denver, had a blood alcohol level of .19 during the fatal crash. The Porter family’s troubles – especially with drinking and driving – didn’t stop there. On May 1, Jevon Porter was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

According to 9news.com he was released, but it is troubling to see another Porter brother drive drunk after seeing his brother sentenced to prison just weeks earlier. Jevon spent the last two seasons playing basketball at Pepperdine but recently transferred to Loyola Marymount, via Yahoo Sports.

Michael Porter Jr. has one more brother. Izzak is the youngest of the brothers, and not much is known about him. With Jevon being the third Porter brother to face trouble recently, Michael will have even more on his mind during the NBA playoffs. With a return to the NBA Finals still on the mind for Michael and the Nuggets, the star forward will have to eliminate any distractions and focus on playing good basketball, as he did in the series against the Lakers.

This article first appeared on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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