r/CollegeBasketball • u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils • 5d ago
Amidst family drama and grooming allegations by his 30 year old Mormon girlfriend, Kyle Flipowski gets drafted in the 2nd round by Utah
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u/NotABot1235 Duke Blue Devils • UCLA Bruins 5d ago
Got season tickets to multiple Duke sports. I follow the team reasonably closely and this is the first I've heard anything about this. Maybe it was on the paid boards but I'm not on those or a big donor. If this was kept under wraps they did a pretty good job.
It would certainly explain his mental state which was his most noticeable issue this past year in my view.
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u/ukeBasketball Duke Blue Devils 4d ago
Just asked my contact who has been an Iron Duke for decades, season tickets in Cameron, been to every Final Four under K, still posts to DBR, yada yada. They had no idea.
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u/DantesHair North Carolina Tar Heels 4d ago
It was on Inside Carolina here and there over the last year.
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u/ukeBasketball Duke Blue Devils 4d ago
So not a Duke board, as others have insinuated. And anything on IC can be dismissed as mudslinging from a rival.
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u/DantesHair North Carolina Tar Heels 4d ago
It wasn’t thrown out there in a way for rumor mongering. Remember, UNC isn’t the fan base that trolls and harasses players before/during games. Instead, it was discussed in light of some of filipowskis on-court behavior (WF incident, constant whining, etc.) and rumors of in-house drama.
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u/RollTide16-18 Alabama Crimson Tide • North Carolina… 4d ago
Sounds like the Duke boards cleaned it up if that’s the case.
Prevent your fans from talking about it, make sure the big media outlets don’t talk about it and it’s basically under the rug forever.
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u/ukeBasketball Duke Blue Devils 4d ago
Duke University has no control over Twitter, or Reddit, or ESPN, and I promise you not DBR either, so no one is being prevented from talking about it or finding out about it if and when the info becomes known. As it just did.
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u/rothburger Michigan State Spartans 5d ago
She gets older in literally every article I see
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u/Ricotalksalot29 5d ago
The initial news that Givony gave nailed her as 26. Flip's mom is claiming she is in fact 28.
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u/KingJokic 4d ago
I feel like Flip's mom is a better source because. The girlfriend is his cousin
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u/LonghornPride05 Kansas Jayhawks • Texas Longhorns 4d ago
Hey now it’s his step* cousin. That totally makes it ok
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u/smellslikebadussy Virginia Cavaliers • American University … 5d ago
Hold up. She was his babysitter?
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u/BearBearChooey 5d ago
It’s already bad, but this makes it like 100x worse if true. Gross.
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u/NIN10DOXD North Carolina Tar Heels • NC State W… 5d ago edited 5d ago
That right there is what got me. Having a 28-30 year old girlfriend is none of my business, but her being his babysitter makes it weird as hell. That would make me suspicious if I was his parent. The fact that she also made a move while he was in highschool and made him cut off his family is straight predator behavior.
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u/KingJokic 4d ago
it gets even worse because they are cousins
https://x.com/RotoSurgeon/status/1806464683072983072/photo/3
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u/logicalcommenter4 4d ago
Not blood though, still nasty in appearance. Apparently they are cousins via marriage.
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u/NorthernDevil Duke Blue Devils • Minnesota Golden Gophers 4d ago
What the fuck
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 3d ago
Nothing wrong with marrying non-blood related relatives and 2nd cousins + beyond.
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u/NorthernDevil Duke Blue Devils • Minnesota Golden Gophers 2d ago
Are you being sarcastic with the cousins thing
We’re a North Carolina school sir not an Alabaman one
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u/ScrofessorLongHair Alabama Crimson Tide • Final Four 8h ago
Maybe it's because I'm in the Catholic part of Alabama. But even I find that gross and fucked up.
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u/hellonameismyname 2d ago
Weird when you grew up together and babysat them and are like 8 years older
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u/undecided_mask Virginia Cavaliers • Louisville Cardina… 5d ago
What’s the babysitter thing from? I haven’t seen anything about it?
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u/smellslikebadussy Virginia Cavaliers • American University … 5d ago
Just on Reddit, nothing legit that I’ve seen reported. I probably should have qualified it.
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u/undecided_mask Virginia Cavaliers • Louisville Cardina… 5d ago
Yeah that might be true but I’ll hold off on it until the parents/brother confirm it.
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago edited 5d ago
Just like in one of my hentais!
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u/smellslikebadussy Virginia Cavaliers • American University … 5d ago
I’ve also seen a lot of movies about this! Based on that, I’m confident it’s going to work out just fine for the young man.
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u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Illinois Fighting Illini • Bradley Braves 5d ago
They met when Kyle's top half was stuck inside a clothes dryer.
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u/MikeyTbT123 North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
Damn seems crazy for a duke fan of all people to be making light of this
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
Not our problem now.
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u/MikeyTbT123 North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
Tf dude?
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
Dude was already an adult legally before he stepped on campus.
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u/MikeyTbT123 North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
This is a kids life. I hated him on the court but its a real person that played for YOU. show some appreciation and dont mock this gross and abusive situation
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u/iEatPalpatineAss Duke Blue Devils 6h ago
This is a stupid mindset. He's always part of the Duke family.
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u/MrSCR23 North Carolina Tar Heels • M… 5d ago
Wtf?
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
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u/MrSCR23 North Carolina Tar Heels • M… 5d ago
I…do not know what to say. How did Duke keep a lid on this (if they knew about it at all)?
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
Everyone involved had an vested interest to keep this under the lid before the draft.
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u/NorthernDevil Duke Blue Devils • Minnesota Golden Gophers 4d ago
Seriously wtf do you do in that situation as the school though
You don’t want to punish him for it, but could they at least have banned her from the gym? But would that just have isolated him more? And going public about it hurts him too.
What a bizarre and fucked up situation
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 4d ago
I'm pretty sure we did the best we can to salvage the basketball side of things.
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u/MiniVanMan23 Marquette Golden Eagles 5d ago
I feel bad for his family. Him going to Salt Lake City will probably widen the gap between them. Heartbreaking for them
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u/Single_Seesaw_9499 Purdue Boilermakers 5d ago
This is sad
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u/JazzzzzzySax NC State Wolfpack • North Carolina Ta… 4d ago
Being groomed by your babysitter I can’t even
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u/Aurion7 North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago edited 5d ago
...
Oh.
Oh, no. That is beyond fucked up. A then-high schooler dating their former babysitter sounds like the plot to an extremely bad Japanese adult comic.
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u/cgj3x Virginia Cavaliers 5d ago
I swear I saw some shit about this during the court storming. She was in the tunnel with him and a few people were thinking it was weird because how did she get escorted down there so quickly in the middle of the chaos. Saw some comment at the time about her being his former babysitter. I think it maybe all got lost in the sauce of the court storm/“trample” otherwise the masses would have seen it sooner.
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u/YoooCakess North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
Is Flip a Mormon?
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
After being converted by his gf, yes.
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u/YoooCakess North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
Damn. I’m his single greatest hater but this just sucks. So fucked up all around. His parents have just sat by and accepted this as normal? So many people seem to have let him down
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u/fiveht78 5d ago
She cut him off from his family, his brother and mother have been vocal about it lately. Seems like a truly messed up situation all around.
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u/YoooCakess North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
I had a babysitter growing up that would fit this same age profile - I just graduated college as well. She’s married with kids and I’m bullshitting around in the summer. So weird to think about their relationship that way
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u/CantFindMyWallet Connecticut Huskies 5d ago
No, his family is fucking livid and wants to hunt this woman for sport, but he's legally an adult so there's nothing they can do.
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u/m_c__a_t BYU Cougars • Auburn Tigers 2d ago
She doesn’t exactly seem Mormon. Maybe raised Mormon, but their socials do not show a Mormon lifestyle in the way they dress and what they drink
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u/Unlikely-Passion-392 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yeah you can't put the blame on Duke. This happened before he even got to campus. Plus, Kyle was a year old for his grade. So, who knows the full story. Duke putting one of their players' personal lives out in the media would do them no good. Their consenting adults and had started before he got to campus. And, Duke athletes have plenty of resources if they feel he needed them or want to seek them. Hopefully, he can see the light at some point if all this is true. I could tell as a Duke fan he just didn't seem right mentally all the time. Like there was some pent-up anger and frustration that led to some poor play/chemistry issues at times. Perhaps this could be that, one question I do have is if she is such a groomer and he was a 1st round fringe lottery pick as a freshman how she didn't influence him into bolting after 1 year.
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u/thecoinedhaddock 4d ago
It always felt like something was missing with him and it very likely led to chemistry issues if she was always around and had a tight grip on him. I totally get what you are saying, but if a guy isn't able to give 100%, he shouldn't be playing, his fault or not. Most coaches wouldn't allow this type of stuff. I forget if it was Saban, but one of the big college football coaches said that they left a player's house after watching him talk poorly to his mother. Completely different situation, but it speaks to a larger issue at play. And I think there's no chance that Coach K would have put up with this.
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u/bourbonstew North Carolina Tar Heels 3d ago
Probably would have but he had surgery after the season last year on his hips, same type thing as Cam Johnson before his senior season. Can’t do draft workouts right after surgery.
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u/RollTide16-18 Alabama Crimson Tide • North Carolina… 4d ago
Idk, considering the parents have been shut off from him it kinda sounds like the Duke Admins/Coaches/Boosters helped enable this for some reason, and the only reason we could easily surmise is that they believed cutting his family off would make for the best environment for him to play basketball.
It just is really weird.
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u/Unlikely-Passion-392 4d ago
How would duke shut his parents off? Did they ban them from games? Lol kyle told them he didn't want any contact with them. Duke probably stayed out of it, should Duke have went behind his back and against his wishes and did an intervention even though they are two consenting adults? You don't know what Duke knew or offered Kyle while he was there. Putting any blame on Duke or boosters Is just lazy and showing your biacy towards certain schools. What should Duke have done? Told the kid to break up with his girlfriend or he's off the team? Lol all Duke athletes have access to mental health programs if needed and requested. I'm sure they supported him in any way needed if he seeked it. And leaking It would do way more harm than good. It's a private matter that needs to be worked out with kyle , his family, and whoever he is dating. It's not like he was flunking his classes or not showing up to practice. If kyle said he was fine and happy and just had a disagreement with his parents and girlfriend who didn't even live on campus, then I'm not sure how you want Duke to do anything. Again, what could Duke have even done? Young adults make their own decisions, and this was done before even getting to Duke.
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u/thecoinedhaddock 3d ago
I agree with you that if everything appeared fine while he attended Duke, there would be no reason for the school to step in. If that was true, one would tend to think that he wouldn't be as nervous and unconfident about the situation during interviews especially with time to prepare for the questions. But if it's such a big deal that every team thought to ask it and he couldn't nail a single interview, there is a very low likelihood that everything was fine while he was at Duke. If she was at practices "an unusual amount" with coaches permission, and the relationship was covered in controversy to the point where the coaching staff was complicit in hiding his engagement for a semester, something has got to be off and the coaching staff are complicit to some extent. And it's unfair to the other guys on the team who had to deal with this during the season.
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u/MiniVanMan23 Marquette Golden Eagles 5d ago
I bet Wojo introduced Flip to the Mormon community. I have no idea if this is true but I just like finding reasons to hate Wojo.
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
lol. Kyle is going to spend a lot of time at Salt Lake City Star, and he will be coached by Wojo.
It's all coming together...
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u/PinkSaldo Maryland Terrapins 5d ago
Man I hate the guy. Loathe him. Hate every dookie.
But that is just gross, poor guy getting groomed by his own babysitter AND the Mormon cult? Feel bad for him.
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u/joshuakyle94 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
I’m stationed here in Utah. Mormons are crazy
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u/spacegeese Boise State Broncos 4d ago
Great neighbors to have tho
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u/joshuakyle94 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
I will say, if you’re not from Utah, Mormons are the nicest hosts. But if you’re from Utah or Mormon, they are very good at shutting you out if they don’t like you.
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u/d7h7n North Carolina Tar Heels • NC State W… 5d ago
You know this information would've been nice to know when he was still in college playing. Would've been great ammo.
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u/tarspaceheels North Carolina Tar Heels 5d ago
Nah fam, this is just gross.
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
We would have been all been allies against a Mormon predator.
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u/d7h7n North Carolina Tar Heels • NC State W… 5d ago
I was angling towards still being a virgin cause mormons dont have sex, but yeah that works too.
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u/PLZ_N_THKS Utah Utes 5d ago
Mormons definitely have sex. How do you think the pop out all those kids? It’s a cliche that 18/19 year old girls marry a 20/21 year old missionary mere months after they return home.
My best friend from high school was married and his wife was pregnant with her second before I lost my virginity my freshman year of college.
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u/NIN10DOXD North Carolina Tar Heels • NC State W… 5d ago
She ain't got the ring yet though. Lol
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u/Foreign_Fly_1454 4d ago
They got engaged back in Jan or so. Didn't announce it until April 18 on IG
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u/JazzzzzzySax NC State Wolfpack • North Carolina Ta… 4d ago
One of the few times the research triangle will be united in sports
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u/Interesting-Leg2263 3d ago
I wonder why they didn't press charges and pursue legal action while he was still a minor to put an end to it all. I have a son and no way he's dating someone 8 years older while he's in high school. People wouldn't let their daughters...its such a double standard for bots. His family also has some failure here.....
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 3d ago
If there were no evidence of sexual relations, why would the authorities care. In addition, age of consent is 17 in his home state afaik.
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u/DodgerCoug BYU Cougars 5d ago
lmao what???
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago edited 4d ago
His gf is 6-8 years older than him and started dating him when he was 17, and allegedly babysat him when he was younger.
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u/ZealousidealScene359 4d ago
I don’t think the allegation is 17, I think it’s 13-14 and went public his senior year of hs
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u/shruglifeOG 5d ago
wasn't he boarding in Massachusetts when he was 17? Whole thing is a little hard to believe.
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u/freakydeac123 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 5d ago
So maybe it was a Mormon miracle that miraculously healed him after his gruesome injures in Winston-Salem
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u/JGad14 BYU Cougars • Belmont Bruins 4d ago
I just want to say that the Mormon church doesn't condone grooming. I know y'all will say "what about Joseph Smith?" That was 200 years ago. There is nothing in modern times that condones grooming
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u/name-__________ Tennessee Volunteers • Maryland Terrapins 4d ago
Unlike the policies prohibiting black people from temple ordinances and ordination, which lasted until 1978.
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u/JGad14 BYU Cougars • Belmont Bruins 4d ago
How is this relevant to the conversation we're having?
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u/koinoyokan89 4d ago
From an nba gm perspective he’s dumb dumb and they can’t work with dumb dumb
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 4d ago
Someone who was two years all academic ACC and had a 4.02 GPA in high school is not dumb by NBA standards.
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u/bendovernillshowyou Indiana Hoosiers 4d ago
You can get a 4.2 GPA and still be cognitively deficient socially and other ways.
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u/burnshimself Georgetown Hoyas 5d ago
As if I needed another reason to hate Duke, they apparently covered up for a rapist groomer. This whole situation is so gross.
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u/ZealousidealScene359 4d ago
Covered up is a stretch. Keeping this private was the best thing for the victim. It’s not like they could have had her arrested. They just refrained from going to the media to blow up his personal life and his career prospects, and further isolate him from potential support systems.
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
The girlfriend's age and when they started dating was open news. She is obviously not in any legal trouble. There was nothing to cover up.
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u/burnshimself Georgetown Hoyas 5d ago
“When they started dating” is apparently a point of debate. They were publicly together when he was 17, which unsurprisingly is the age of consent in Massachusetts and New York, but there’s claims this started when he was as young as 14.
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u/Foreign_Fly_1454 4d ago
Per her instagram stories they celebrated 2 yers together 12/4/2023. If that is true he conveniently would have JUST turned 18 the month before they were official
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u/burnshimself Georgetown Hoyas 4d ago
Wow isn’t that a coincidence - surely she can be believed, she would have NO incentive to lie about something like that… /s
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u/proelitedota Duke Blue Devils 5d ago
Claims that she was his baby sitter when he was 14.
His family obviously would have tried to press charges.
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u/RollTide16-18 Alabama Crimson Tide • North Carolina… 4d ago
There’s also the fact that she is family through marriage.
Woof
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u/burnshimself Georgetown Hoyas 5d ago
Hard to make anything stick when the only two people involved who could corroborate anything won’t snitch on each other
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u/tragicallyohio Ohio State Buckeyes 4d ago
How was no one aware of his girlfriend's age when he was a Dukie?
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u/Euphoric_tofu 1d ago
What do people mean cousins by marriage? Step cousins? You’re blood related to all of your cousins.
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u/Comfortable_Slip_420 3d ago
Everyone is so wrapped up in Bronny but no one is going to say anything about a groomed college student getting drafted to Utah, home of the mormons. I guess Lebron is not the only one who has pull in the NBA, guess the mormons does too.
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u/AmateurFootjobs Maryland Terrapins 5d ago
How did this not come out during college??