“NBA player suspected of improper relationship with minor” is the kind of headline that usually stops the press. But little about this curious case involving Josh Giddey has gone by the book. For a tipoff, it was the league itself – not one of its sleepless scoop hounds – that broke the news over last week’s Thanksgiving holiday weekend that it was investigating allegations of an improper relationship between the Oklahoma City Thunder swingman and an underaged girl. In a social media post, a user said a girl who features prominently in photographs and videos with Giddey was as young as 15. Giddey turned 21 last month. “I’m dating Josh!” she screams in one snippet. “We don’t have to talk about it!”
But even as the league office appears to be treating the matter with utmost seriousness and local police are launching their own investigation too, the league-wide reaction has been oddly restrained – perhaps because Giddey has yet to miss a start as a result. Giddey barely addressed the matter when the news broke. “I understand you guys want to know about it,” he said last week, “but right now, I just don’t have anything to say.” Thunder coach Mike Daigneault has been just as reluctant to comment on the allegations or pull Giddey – a leading scorer, rebounder and assist man – from the OKC lineup, filing it under “personal matter”.
