The 2024 NBA Draft was a family affair.
But while the event’s biggest storyline came in the form of the Los Angeles Lakers predictably drafting Bronny James, one of the more bizarre stories came as the result of Kyle Filipowski’s surprising slide.
Originally projected by most prognosticators to be a lottery pick, the Duke big man fell out of the draft’s first round altogether. As many speculated about the reasoning behind Filipowski’s free fall down the draft board, ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony addressed rumors regarding the 20-year-old’s relationship with his family .
“NBA teams are talking about the fact that they had questions about his girlfriend being so much older than him. Why was he estranged from his family because of this whole situation? He apparently doesn’t talk to his parents or his brother,” Givony said. “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.”
Despite doing his best to downplay the situation, Givony’s reporting — both on ESPN’s draft coverage and The Lowe Post podcast — opened the floodgates, with Filipowski’s mother and brother taking to social media to respond. In a series of social media posts, Becky and Daniel Filipowski accused the draft prospect’s fiancée — who is reportedly six years older than him — of “Mormon grooming” and only dating him because of his NBA prospects.
The Utah Jazz selected Filipowski with the second pick of the second-round, with the team downplaying any off-court concerns about the All-American center. But while the story has faded in the months since the draft, it re-emerged on Friday with Becky Filipowski telling her side of it to The Salt Lake Tribune .
Becky seemingly walked back the allegation of Mormon grooming — “this behavior would be bad regardless of what faith she was,” she said — but admitted she had concerns about her son’s relationship with Caitlin Hutchison dating back to when it first began during his senior year of high school. She also revealed that she believes her own metal health issues and cancer diagnosis played roles in her being distanced from her son and very much appeared to be grappling with her family drama now being in the spotlight.
“It was like the dam gates had been opened. And almost three years’ worth of trying to sweep it under the rug, and trying to check him out of our lives [ended],” Becky said. “Then that happened, and it was like, ‘Oh my god. It’s out in the open.’ And just out of the nature that nobody is speaking the truth to power, that they are just speculating about all this s–t.”
As for why she went public in June, Becky said: “We didn’t ask for this. ESPN came out with that report and opened this up. We responded to that. This has been an issue, painful for us for years before draft night,” Becky said. “I’m seeing all these reports and they are speculating without doing any research. … Sometimes I wish we never spoke about it.”
Becky also provided text messages and emails indicating that Kyle had cut his family out of his life in April, citing their lack of acceptance regarding his relationship. Becky admitted that she may have pushed Kyle too much regarding his relationship with Caitlin, but clearly remains devastated by the estrangement.
Ultimately, this is only one side of the story and even with Becky’s insight, there are still parts of the story that don’t necessarily add up. Like any family drama, the entire situation is a messy one — especially so as it’s played out publicly.
[ The Salt Lake Tribune ]
The post Kyle Filipowski’s mom reveals why she went public with family drama amid NBA Draft appeared first on Awful Announcing .
Local News
Comments / 0