Many are questioning just what happened after the script was flipped on Kyle Filipowski at the NBA draft.
The Duke big man was projected to be selected in the first round, but instead fell into the second amid some reported off-court “question marks” about his girlfriend.
The bizarre situation came to light on Thursday ahead of the draft’s second round, during which Filipowski was selected 32nd overall by the Utah Jazz.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported on two different podcasts that teams had been “talking about” the age gap between Filipowski and his girlfriend, Caitlin Hutchison. He also reported that Filipowski allegedly was estranged from his family.
Givony did question why that sort of situation ultimately would impact a team’s decision to select him, calling it “nonsense,” but also discussed why he felt teams balked at taking the former Duke star in the first round.
“NBA teams are talking about the fact that they had question marks about his girlfriend being so much older than him, why was he estranged from his family because of this whole situation,” Givony said on NBA Today. “He apparently doesn’t talk to his parents or his brother and it’s a very, very odd situation. I personally don’t understand why it would cause him to drop like this into the second round.
“There are no questions about his character, but NBA teams are talking about his nerves and his workouts weren’t great. And when they asked him about the situation in interviews the answers they got weren’t satisfactory for them.”
But here’s where things get even more bizarre.
According to a report by the New York Post, two accounts on social-media platform X, one claiming to be Filipowski’s mother and another his brother Daniel, wrote that Hutchison had been “grooming” the 20-year-old hoopster and that she “forced” him to cut off his family two years ago.
The account claiming to be Daniel wrote that the story had been “pushed under the table for nearly two years now” and that it has been an ongoing issue.
The Post reported that attempts to reach the person purporting to be Filipowski’s brother were unsuccessful as of Thursday.
Hutchison reportedly is 26 years old while Filipowski turns 21 later this year. Their first photo together posted on Hutchison’s Instagram account is from his senior prom in 2022.