The family of Kyle Filipowski’s fiancée is speaking out for the first time following allegations on social media made by Filipowski’s family that Caitlin Hutchison had been “grooming” the former Duke star when he was still in high school.
Filipowski, 20, Hutchison’s, 27, relationship has become the focus of scrutiny after ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported that going into the draft teams had been “talking about” the seven-year age gap between the two and Filipowski’s strained relationship with his family.
The basketball player’s mom and brother took to social media to make further claims that she “forced” Filipowski to cut off his family two years ago.
Speaking to the Daily Mail outside her home in Madison, Alabama, Amanda Hutchison, the mother of Caitlin, said that “there will be things forthcoming” and told the outlet that the pair were staying out of the spotlight amid the “storm.”
“What we’ve always said to the kids is, for everything that’s good, if you have faith at all there will be adversaries, there’s always a negative for every positive. So it’s how we weather those storms,” Amanda Hutchinson said.
The Hutchison matriarch reiterated that the family was “weathering the storms” and the situation was “out of my hands,” pointing to PR for Filipowski’s agency and the NBA, which told the Daily Mail it was not involved.
The outlet also reported that Caitlin Hutchison had known Filipowski since he was a child and that the Filipowskis and Hutchisons had been close enough at one point that the children regarded one another as “family.”
Filipowski had been expected to be selected in the first round of last week’s NBA draft only to slip to the second round and be taken by the Jazz.
The fall surprised a number of observers and that’s when the reports about Filipowski’s relationship started to surface.
Filipowski’s older brother, Daniel, has continued to post about it on social media, including lengthy posts last weekend.
“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 wrote on X on Sunday.
Another post the day prior by Daniel Filipowski claimed that his brother “is a trapped victim.”
Filipowski has not publicly addressed his family members’ allegations and neither he nor was Jazz general manager Justin Zanik asked about the topic during his introductory press conference on Tuesday.
“Our entire staff couldn’t really believe that he was there,” Zanik said of Filipowski’s availability in the second round.
“Frankly, it was a very, very easy choice for us. He was someone we really wanted, and we basically ran to the podium when our pick was up.”
