- Giddey was booed and jeered by the opposition over the accusations.
- The Boomers coach traveled to the United States to support him
- Police formally cleared the star of the allegations in January
Australia’s top basketball coach Brian Goorjian has revealed he almost attacked NBA fans who were sledding Boomers star guard Josh Giddey.
Giddey was under investigation at the time following an allegation in an anonymous social media post, since deleted, that he had an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl.
That led to horrific abuse from NBA fans, and Goorjian nearly threw a glass of wine on a particularly offensive fan when he got caught up in the abuse.
The Boomers coach revealed he nearly threw a glass of red wine at a Sacramento Kings fan who was mercilessly abusing the Oklahoma City Thunder star at an NBA game late last year.
The Boomers coach had previously messaged Giddey to let him know he was there to support him as he underwent the NBA investigation, and even traveled to the United States to meet with him during the scandal.
Giddey had a challenging year after being investigated for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a minor, before being cleared by police and the NBA.
Australian Boomers coach Brian Goorjian (pictured) traveled to the United States to support the young point guard.
Earlier this year, Giddey was cleared following a police investigation into whether he had an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl after material circulated on social media.
Newport police found no evidence to support the allegations. The NBA also dropped its investigation in May.
Goorjian is widely regarded as Australia’s greatest basketball coach due to his unparalleled success in the National Basketball League (NBL), where he won six championships and was named Coach of the Year six times.
He also led the Australian national team to a historic bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He traveled to Sacramento to show his support for the 21-year-old Boomers star and immediately found out firsthand what the abuse was like.
Giddey to play crucial role for Australian Boomers at Paris Olympics in July
To date, Giddey has not addressed investigations or been cleared of any crimes.
Goorjian knew trouble was coming when he went to take a seat at the Golden 1 Center and found a card warning fans about abusive behavior.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Goorjian said of the abuse.
“I’m behind the scorer’s bench and a player was passing the ball to Josh at midcourt and the whole stadium stood up and booed.
“I’ve had guys like Chris Anstey who went there when they were young and really struggled in the NBA environment, but here’s a kid, 20 years old (at the time), and the whole stadium is going crazy. The guards Security was grabbing the boys, it was intense.
‘What the guy behind me was saying was out of line… I turned around and was going to throw my red wine in his face. He was becoming very, very uncomfortable.”
Goorjian saw Giddey after the game and was told, ‘You should see what Chicago is like. You should see New York.
Giddey was traded by Oklahoma, his NBA team, to the Chicago Bulls on Friday after the Thunder were eliminated from the NBA playoffs.
Giddey was photographed in Melbourne partying with model Maki Lesko (pictured) ahead of the Olympics.
Giddey has never specifically addressed or clarified the allegations publicly.
While the issue weighed heavily on him last season, Goorjian believes the Paris Olympics will be the 21-year-old’s time to shine.
“He’s coming out the other side of this,” Goorjian said. ‘He’s been through a lot and come out the other end. It has hardness. He is stronger than when he left Australia.
Giddey returned to Melbourne for a pre-Games camp late next week ahead of warm-up matches against China. She appeared on model Maki Lesko’s Instagram account while the couple was out partying.
On Friday morning, news broke that the Thunder had traded Giddey to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for defensive guard Alex Caruso.
