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He New Orleans Pelicans He will not separate from the star of Eavel Zion Williamson after a woman in a lawsuit filed last week accused him of rape and other physical abuse, said a team executive in an interview on Wednesday.
Joe Dumars, a player of the Hall of Fame who was appointed Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Pelicans in April, confirmed the team’s decision in an interview with The New Orleans Times-Picayune On Wednesday, add Williamson “will continue to be a focal point” of the organization.
The New Orleans Pelicans striker, Zion Williamson, during the second half of a game against the Dallas Mavericks in the American Airlines Center on February 21, 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn images)
“I’ve had very good conversations with Zion,” Dumars told The Outlet. “We have lunch. Dinner. We saw playoff games together. We have done everything. I have had really honest conversations with him. Some direct and honest conversations.
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“We are going to move on with Zion,” he continued. “He will continue to be a focal point here as we advance.”
Dumars made his comments less than a week after a woman, who claimed to be in a relationship with Williamson while playing in Duke, filed a lawsuit claiming that the two-time NBA two times participated in a “pattern of abusive, controller and threatening behavior,” according to reports.
The lawsuit accused Williamson of rape twice separately in 2020.
According to him New York Post, In one case, the woman said that Williamson “picked it up, threw it to the ground and stuck it so that it could not move,” and then supposedly “violently raped the plaintiff in multiple ways.”
He also said that Williamson used abusive language when he refused to be intimate with him.
The New Orleans Pelicans striker, Zion Williamson (1) and the Guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jaylen Clark (22) go after a loose ball in the second half in the Target Center on March 19, 2025. (Jesse Johnson/Imagn images)
The star of the Pelicans, Zion Williamson, faces violation, accusations of abuse in a new demand
Williamson denied the accusations in a statement of his lawyers who described the lawsuit “an attempt to exploit a professional athlete promoted by a financial reason instead of any legitimate complaint.”
“We take these accusations with the greatest seriousness, and we denied them unequivocally. The accusations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless,” the statement said.
Williamson’s lawyers said they plan to present counter -demonstrations and “seek significant damage to this defamatory demand.”
Dumars told The Times-Picayune that “he had been advised not to venture in any of his legal problems,” but the owner of the Gayle Benson team addressed the matter on Tuesday, saying: “The demands are demands.”
Zion Williamson of the New Orleans pelicans during a game against the Indiana Pacers on November 1, 2024, at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE through Getty Images)
“People can sue you for anything. There is no reason,” he said, through WWL-TV. “You can be innocent or not, so it is something that people do, unfortunately.”
Williamson, 24, was the first general selection in the 2019 NBA Draft. Despite a race tarnished by a long injury history, Williamson has averaged 24.7 points per game.
