Kyle Filipowski had an uninspiring summer league debut Monday night for the Jazz following several weeks of off-the-court drama featuring his fiancée, Caitlin Hutchison.
The former Duke star failed to score in 17 minutes, missing all four of his shots while grabbing four rebounds in Utah’s 97-95 win over Memphis.
Filipowski has been in the headlines since late June when he surprisingly fell in the 2024 NBA Draft to the second round, where the Jazz selected him with the 32nd pick.
A video circulated on social media showing a despondent Filipowski being comforted by Hutchison in the hallways of Barclays Center after not being drafted in the first round.
Details then emerged which painted the relationship between the two as a potential reason why teams passed on one of the better college big men in the 2024 NBA Draft.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony noted that teams had questions about the age gap between the couple — Hutchison is 27, while Filipowski is 20 — and how their relationship allegedly led to him cutting off his family, labeling it a “very, very odd situation.”
“There are no questions about his character, but NBA teams are talking about his nerves and his workouts weren’t great,” Givony said on “NBA Today” last month. “And when they asked him about the situation in interviews the answers they got weren’t satisfactory for them.”
Filipowski’s estranged family provided further context, with accounts claiming to be his brother and his mother alleging Filipowski had been groomed and brainwashed by Hutchison.
Grooming is described as “the preparatory stage of child sexual abuse and exploitation, often undertaken to gain the trust and/or compliance of the child or young person and to establish secrecy and silence to avoid disclosure,” according to bravehearts.org/au.
The two first started dating in December 2021 when Hutchison was 25 and Flipowski was 18, according to Page Six.
“1. My brother is a victim and was unfortunately a ‘perfect’ pawn and target for this girl’s lifelong scheme based on his human characteristics and growing potential as a high-level prospect which started taking place in 2019, exactly at the time when she began her pursuit of him,” Daniel Filipowski tweeted June 29.
Hutchison allegedly also “forced” him to leave his family behind.
“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 tweeted.
Hutchison has since made her Instagram private following the allegations.
