Former Duke star Kyle Filipowski's fall to the second-round of the 2024 NBA Draft was reportedly caused by concerns over his relationship.
Filipowski, 20, was selected by the Utah Jazz at No. 32 overall on Thursday (June 27) after all 30 NBA teams passed on him during the first-round on Wednesday (June 26). ESPN's Jonathan Givony claimed that NBA teams were "talking about" the age gap between Filipowski and his girlfriend, Caitlin Hutchison, 26, as well as his allegedly estranged relationship with his family, as potential red flags.
“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.”
An X account claiming to be Filipowski's mother, Becky, claimed that Hutchinson had been "grooming" her son and "forced" him to cut off his family two years ago. Another account claiming to be his older brother, Daniel, claimed the public doesn't "have a clue of the extent of the story that has to do with his girlfriend" in response to another user sharing a clip of Givony making similar claims on The Lowe Post podcast with Zach Lowe.
"I’m Kyle’s oldest brother..you all don’t have a clue of the extent of the story that has to do with his girlfriend," Daniel wrote. "There’s a story that has been pushed under the table for nearly two years now."
The first photo of Filipowski shared on Hutchison's Instagram was taken from his senior prom in 2022.
Filipowski rated as a five-star prospect and was the No. 2 center, No. 1 player from the state of Massachusetts and No. 4 overall prospect for the 2022 national recruiting cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite. The New York native averaged 15.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists during two years at Duke, which included 16.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season.