NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
The New Orleans Pelicans Will not share ways with Star Forward Zion Williamson after he was charged with rape and other physical abuse of a woman in a trial filed last week, a team director said in an interview on Wednesday.
Joe Dumars, a Hall of Fame player who was appointed Pelicans’ CEO Vice President of Basketball Operations in April, confirmed the team’s decision in an interview with New Orleans Times-Picayune Wednesday will add Williamson “continue to be a gathering point” for the organization.
New Orleans Pelicans Spider Zion Williamson during the second half of a game against Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center February 21, 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imag- Pictures)
“I’ve had really good conversations with Zion,” Dumars told the business. “We’ve been eating lunch. Dinner. Then playoff games together. We’ve done it all. I’ve had some real honest conversations with him. Some real direct and honest conversations.
CLICK HERE for more sports cover at Foxnews.com
“We move on with Zion,” he continued. “He will continue to be a gathering point here as we move on.”
Dumars made his comments less than a week after a woman who claimed to be in a relationship with Williamson while playing on Duke brought a trial that claimed that the two-time NBA All-Star engaged in a “pattern of insulting, controlling and threatening behavior,” according to reports.
The trial accused Williamson of rape on two separate occasions by 2020.
According to New York Post, In one case, the woman claimed that Williamson “picked her up, threw her down to the ground and attached her shoulders so that she could not move,” and then allegedly “fiercely raped plaintiff in several ways.”
She also claimed that Williamson was using violent language when she refused to be intimate with him.
New Orleans Pelicans Spider Zion Williamson (1) and Minnesota Timberwolves Guard Jaylen Clark (22) Go for a loose ball in the second half in Target Center 19 March 2025. (Jesse Johnson/Imag images)
Pelican’s star Zion Williamson faces rape, claims of abuse in the new trial
Williamson denied the claims in a statement from his lawyers who called the trial “an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate complaint.”
“We take these accusations with the greatest seriousness and we deny them unequivocally. The allegations of the complaint are categorically false and ruthless,” the statement states.
Williamson’s attorneys said they are planning to file a counterclaim and “seek significant damage to this defamatory trial.”
Dumars told Times-Picayune that he had “been advised not to venture into any of his legal problems,” but team owner Gayle Benson approached the case on Tuesday and said, “Litigation is litigation.”
Zion Williamson of New Orleans Pelicans during a game against Indiana Pacers November 1, 2024 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
“People can sue you for something. There is no one that is no reason,” she said via WWL-TV. “You can be innocent or not, so it’s just something people do, unfortunately.”
Williamson, 24, was the first overall election in 2019 NBA Draft. Despite a career damaged by a long -term injury history, Williamson has an average of 24.7 points per Match.
