Photo:Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty
Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty
“The Newport Beach Police Department is aware of information being circulated online involving an alleged relationship between professional basketball player Josh Giddey and a female minor,” the Southern California police departmentsaid in a news release late Wednesday.
The release continued, “The Newport Beach Police Department is actively seeking additional information related to these allegations and pursuing all leads and evidence to obtain the facts of the case.”
The news comes days after the NBA announced that it had opened an investigation of its own into the matter regarding the 21-year-old point guard from Australia.
“We are aware of the report regarding the Newport Beach Police Department’s inquiry,” NBA spokesman Mike Basstold the Associated Presson Wednesday. “We are continuing to gather information.”
The allegations against Giddey stem from a since-deleted post last week on social media in which a user said that a girl seen with the athlete was a high school junior.
Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty
The account has since been deactivated,according to ESPN.
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Both Giddey and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault declined to comment to reporters during a Friday practice.
“I understand the question, obviously, but there’s no further comment right now,” Giddeytold reporters.
“I get the question guys, I completely understand you guys want to know about it but just for right now, I don’t have anything to say,” he added after being asked again.
Daigneault, who was asked if he thought Giddey could be “a potential distraction," noted that it was a “personal matter.”
“And I have no comment on it,” he said. “And that will be my answer on anything related.”
Both the NBA and Oklahoma City Thunder did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday.
Meanwhile on Thursday,reports emergedthat Giddey’s agent, Daniel Moldovan — who is considered to be one of Australia’s most powerful sports agents — has been fired from his firm for criticizing on social media a Black Lives Matter post from October in which the organization shared its support for Palestine.
source: people.com
