There are very few incidents in the history of the NBA that have shaken the league to its core. From the infamous ‘Malice At The Palace’ to Kobe Bryant’s untimely departure, fans and the league seldom completely recover from such ground-shattering events when they do happen. One such occasion took place last November, when OKC guard, Josh Giddey was accused of having improper se*ual relationships with a minor.
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Fortunately for Giddey, the legal storm that started in November, has since settled. While the league and law enforcement have dropped their investigation against the 21-year-old, the internet continues to hold the Thunder star accountable. Recently joining ‘Giddey’s troll party’ was Celtics’s sharpshooter, Payton Pritchard. The 26-year-old guard didn’t directly make remarks about Giddey’s situation, instead choosing to like a post that called out the Thunder star for being a “P*dophile”.
The post was made by a popular sports parody page on the social media platform X[ formerly known as Twitter]. The account that goes by the name @Ballsacksport didn’t stop there; they even drew comparisons between Giddey and Karl Malone.
The comparisons arose because the Jazz legend found himself in a similar situation while playing for Louisiana Tech at the age of 20. It was alleged that Malone had improper relations with a minor[ 13 years of age], resulting in her even getting pregnant. Highlighting the comparisons even further, @Ballsacksport even added a caption that read,
“Josh Giddey following in the footsteps of greats like Karl Malone “
The real headscratcher in this entire situation is Pritchard’s recent involvement. The original post was made in late November last year, with the media attention on the matter having since gone cold. So the Celtics guard liking the post definitely raised a few eyebrows, as fans rushed to the comments section to determine if Pritchard actually believed the accusations against Giddey, or was just ‘trolling’ like most of the internet. With no comments on the matter from Pritchard’s camp, we can only speculate on what the Celtics’s guard’s real intentions were, with some calling Pritchard’s actions as being nothing but trash-talk.
The entire incident began when an anonymous Twitter/X user posted images of what appeared to be Giddey posing shirtless with a minor girl. The post which has since been deleted, seems to have met its objective, as Josh Giddey was quickly put under investigation after the post made the rounds on social media.
The investigation was led by the Orange County Police Department, who found no corroborating evidence that the Thunder guard had any improper relations with a minor. Adam Silver, also spoke on the matter, saying the following, per ClutchPoints.
” If you look back, I can’t think of many circumstances where we’ve suspended a player based on an allegation alone…In this case, we have an allegation, then you have a police investigation, and then you have a league investigation. I will also add that where there is a criminal investigation, we take a back seat”
With the police department having dropped their charges, it’s fair to assume that even the league won’t be looking into the matter anymore either. While there has been no confirmation about the league dropping its investigation, it has been three months since any news has broken on the matter from the league office.
With the playoffs currently in full swing, it would likely be fair to assume that any further announcements on the matter will only happen once the season is over. As of now, Josh Giddey is cleared of all charges, as the 21-year-old ‘Aussie’ leads the Thunder to a two-game advantage over their first-round match-up, The New Orleans Pelicans.
