NBA Players and Prospects Banned for Gambling

Gambling has long been treated as one of professional basketball's most serious threats because it can undermine confidence in the integrity of games. Several major college point-shaving scandals in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in players being barred from entering or continuing in the NBA.

Not everyone listed below was an active NBA player at the time of the ban. Some were college players, NBA draft selections, prospects, or players whose NBA rights were held by a team.

The 1951 college basketball point-shaving scandal affected several major programs and ended or prevented the professional careers of a large number of players.

Two of the most prominent active NBA players affected were Ralph Beard and Alex Groza of the Indianapolis Olympians. Both had been standout Kentucky players before their involvement in the college scandal resulted in lifetime NBA bans.

Jack Molinas was one of the most significant gambling cases involving an active NBA player. The Fort Wayne Pistons selected him with the third pick of the 1953 NBA Draft, and he appeared in only 32 games before his NBA career ended.

Molinas admitted that he had placed wagers on Pistons games while playing for the team. Although he said he bet on Fort Wayne to win, NBA president Maurice Podoloff indefinitely suspended him in January 1954 and refused his later attempts at reinstatement.

Molinas later became connected to another major college basketball gambling scandal that surfaced in 1961.

The NBA's investigation found that Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to a person he knew to be an NBA bettor. The league also found that Porter limited his own participation in at least one game in an effort to influence wagers involving his individual performance.

The investigation also determined that Porter placed at least 13 wagers on NBA games through another person's betting account between January and March 2024. Some of the wagers included bets on the Toronto Raptors to lose.

Porter's ban was historically significant because he became the first active NBA player since Jack Molinas in 1954 to be permanently barred from the league for gambling-related conduct.

Connie Hawkins is an important exception in the history of NBA gambling bans. Hawkins was connected to the 1961 scandal despite never being arrested, indicted or directly implicated in fixing a game.

After years outside the NBA, Hawkins filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league. The case was ultimately settled, the NBA lifted his ban in 1969, and Hawkins joined the Phoenix Suns.

Hawkins became a four-time NBA All-Star and was later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

* Denotes a player who was an NBA draft pick or whose NBA rights were held by the team shown.

This list includes players who were barred from the NBA because of gambling or point-shaving allegations and scandals, even when the conduct occurred before they entered the NBA.

Because many of the early cases involved college players rather than active NBA players, the team or school column identifies the organization associated with the player at the time or the NBA team that held his rights.