NBA, Sacramento Kings take action regarding allegations against Luke Walton
The league and the Kings said they "take these allegations (against Luke Walton) very seriously and will collaborate to conduct a complete and thorough investigation.”
The NBA and Sacramento Kings are launching a joint investigation into sexual abuse claims against Kings head coach Luke Walton, several media outlets are reporting.
According to the New York Post, the Kings have retained attorneys from Sacramento law firm Van Dermyden Maddux. Elizabeth Maringer, the NBA’s senior vice president and assistant general counsel, will head the league’s investigation. According to TMZ, Maringer worked 12 years as assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
In a joint statement, the league and the Kings said they “take these allegations very seriously and will collaborate to conduct a complete and thorough investigation.”
Sports journalist Kelli Tennant leveled the explosive allegations in a recent civil lawsuit, saying the incident occurred in 2014 when Walton was an assistant coach for the Warriors. Tennant said she went to the Warriors’ team hotel in Santa Monica to give Walton a book she had written. Walton wrote the foreword for the book.
She said he forced himself on her in his room.
“Out of nowhere, he got on top of me and pinned me down to the bed and held my arms down with all of his weight while he kissed my neck and my face and my chest,” Tennant said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
She said she was afraid Walton would rape her. She said she waited before filing the file suit because she was scared.
Walton’s lawyer Mark Baute said Tennant’s lawyers “want to create a public circus to distract from their complete lack of evidence to support their outrageous claims. We will not try this case in the media or pay them a dime.”
Aside from the gravity of the allegations, the timing of the suit is ticklish for Walton, who accepted the head coaching job with the Kings on April 14 — two days after he parted ways with the Los Angeles Lakers. He came to the Lakers from the Warriors.