Former NBA Player Chris Dudley Stands Up for His Friend Brett Kavanaugh

Former NBA player Chris Dudley is standing up for his Yale classmate and current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Three women have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct — which he has vehemently and consistently denied.

Christine Blasey Ford testified on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her in 1982 during a high school get-together at a house in Maryland.

Kavanaugh’s most recent accuser, Deborah Ramirez, has alleged that he exposed himself to her at a Yale party during his college days.

“That’s just not Brett,” Dudley, 53, told The New York Times.

“That’s not in his character.”

Dudley, who played in the NBA for 16 seasons and was the Republican nominee for governor of Oregon in 2010, said he and Kavanaugh spent a lot of time together at Yale. Dudley said he never witnessed any such behavior at all by the nominee.

For example, Kavanaugh’s accusers have said he was heavily intoxicated when the incidents occurred, but Dudley recalls that Kavanaugh never had his decision-making impacted by heavy drinking.

“When he went out Friday nights, I was usually with him,” Dudley told BuzzFeed News about Kavanaugh. “I never, ever saw him blacked out, never … Brett would drink, but he’d also be the guy who never missed a class. There’s a reason he was top of his class.”

In a separate interview with The Washington Post, Dudley defended Kavanaugh again and refuted claims that his friend ever blacked out while drinking or displayed any bad behavior.

“I went out with him all the time. He never blacked out. Never even close to blacked out,” the former NBA player said. “There was drinking, and there was alcohol. Brett drank, and I drank. Did he get inebriated sometimes? Yes. Did I? Yes. Just like every other college kid in America.”

During his time with the NBA, Dudley played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New Jersey Jets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the New York Knicks, and the Phoenix Suns.

He retired after playing in the 2002-2003 season.

Related: Four Points from Christine Blasey Ford That Raise Questions

After leaving the NBA, Dudley became a wealth management partner with Filigree Advisors in 2008. Before that, he was the vice president of M Financial Wealth Management.

He also has a long history of charity work.

Dudley created the Chris Dudley Foundation in 1994, an organization based in Oregon that works to help improve the lives of children with diabetes. The foundation began a basketball camp for kids in 1996.

Dudley and Kavanaugh were undergraduates at Yale from 1983 to 1987.

(photo credit, article image: Chris Dudley…, CC BY-SA 3.0, by Sphilbrick)