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THE New Orleans Pélicans The star striker of Zion Williamson will not separate after being accused of rape and other physical abuses by a woman in a trial brought last week, a team leader in an interview announced on Wednesday.
Joe Dumars, a renowned temple player who was appointed executive vice-president of the basketball operations in April, confirmed the team’s decision in an interview with New Orleans Times-Picayune Wednesday, the addition of Williamson “will continue to be a focal point” of the organization.
The New Orleans Pelicans striker Zion Williamson during the second half of a match against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center on February 21, 2025. (Jerome Miron / Imagn images)
“I had very good conversations with Sion,” Dumars told The Outlet. “We had lunch. Dinner. I watched the qualifying matches together. We did everything. I had real honest conversations with him. Real and honest conversations.
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“We are going to move forward with Sion,” he continued. “He will continue to be a focal point here while we are moving forward.”
Dumars made his comments less than a week after a woman, who claimed to be in contact with Williamson while playing Duke, filed a complaint alleging that the NBA double all-star is committed to an “abusive, controlling and threatening behavior model”, according to information.
The trial accused Williamson of rape twice in 2020.
According to the New York Post, In one case, the woman said that Williamson had “picked up, threw her on the ground and pinned her shoulders so that she couldn’t move”, then “violently raped the complainant in several ways”.
She also said that Williamson had used abusive language when she refused to be intimate with him.
The New Orleans Pélicans striker Zion Williamson (1) and the Timberwolves goalkeeper from Minnesota, Jaylen Clark (22), went after a loose ball in the second period at the Target Center on March 19, 2025. (Images Jesse Johnson / Imagn)
Pelicans star Zion Williamson faces rape, allegations of abuse in a new trial
Williamson denied allegations in a statement from his lawyers who described the trial “an attempt to exploit a professional athlete motivated by a financial reason rather than a legitimate grievance”.
“We take these allegations with the greatest seriousness, and we refuse them unequivocally. The allegations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless,” said the press release.
Williamson lawyers said they were planning to submit reconvention and “request significant damages for this defamatory trial”.
Dumars told Times-Picayune that he had “been advised not to venture into any of his legal problems”, but the owner of the Gayle Benson team approached Tuesday, saying: “The prosecution is prosecution”.
Zion Williamson of New Orleans Pélicans in a match against the Indiana Pacers on November 1, 2024, at the King Center smoothie in New Orleans. (Jeff Haynes / NBAE via Getty Images)
“People can sue you for anything. There is not, there is no reason,” she said, via WWL-TV. “You can be innocent or not, so it’s just something that people do, unfortunately.”
Williamson, 24, was the first overall choice of the 2019 NBA draft. Despite a career marred by a long history of injuries, Williamson has an average of 24.7 points per game.
