One of the surprises of the first round of the NBA Draft was Duke big man Kyle Filipowski not hearing his name called.
Filipowski would eventually come off the board to the Utah Jazz with the No. 32 overall pick in the second round tonight, but not before some bizarre rumors about his relationship with his girlfriend popped up on social media.
Making things even crazier was the fact that it was Filipowski’s family members stirring up the conversation. It all started when a clip from a recent episode of “The Lowe Post” with ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Jonathan Givony was shared on X/Twitter.
In the clip, Givony mentions Filipowski’s struggles in interviews and during his pro day workout concerned some teams before also mentioning the 7-footer’s girlfriend.
When asked by Lowe to elaborate, Givony said the woman, whose name is Caitlin Hutchinson, is several years older than Filipowski, which some NBA people found “weird.”
1) This led me down an insane Filipowski rabbit hole.
2) Givony doing Filipowski’s girlfriend so many favors in his description. This looks like very iffy and suspect. pic.twitter.com/ylcI6BcprC
— W² (@thewarnerwest) June 27, 2024
This is when things took a really strange turn. Filipowski’s older brother Daniel responded to the tweet and accused Hutchinson of “Mormon grooming” his brother and “brainwashing” the former five-star recruit.
Kyle Filipowski’s brother and MOM are on here revealing how his girlfriend groomed him into mormon culture and cut him off from his family
…and now he ends up with the Utah Jazz 😭 pic.twitter.com/Q3PXlrqYJ7
— kev mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) June 27, 2024
In a separate tweet, Filipowski’s mother Becky said Hutchinson is “28 with an endgame 3 years ago to have a diamond ring on her hand when Kyle left Duke.”
“HE WAS STILL IN HS,” she wrote.
Daniel Filipowski later said Hutchinson, who graduated from the University of Alabama in 2018, forced Filipowski to become estranged from his family.
“She forced him to cut us off from his life almost two years ago. Sent us an email and everything. Basically the official ‘goodbye letter,'” he said.
No sir..you got it backwards. She forced him to cut us off from his life almost two years ago. Sent us an email and everything. Basically the official “goodbye letter”
— Daniel Filipowski (@thedanielflip24) June 27, 2024
Filipowski, who was a first-team All-ACC selection and consensus second-team All-American in 2023-24, left Duke after averaging 15.8 points and 8.6 points per game over two seasons.
On the court, he should fit in well with the Jazz roster. Off it, well, let’s just say it seems like he has more pressing issues to take care of.
Related: Photos: Kyle Filipowski’s Girlfriend Is Going Viral At NBA Draft