Pelicans exec makes Zion Williamson stance clear after bombshell rape allegations

The rape allegations against Zion Williamson are not affecting the Pelicans’ plans for his future with the organization.While new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said he had been “advised not to venture into any of his legal issues” in an interview with The Times-Picayune, he made it clear the team intends to build around its former No.1 overall pick.“I’ve had really good conversations with Zion,” Dumars, the former Pistons title-winning executive, said Wednesday.

“We’ve had lunch.Dinner.

Watched playoff games together.We’ve done it all.

I’ve had some real, honest conversations with him.Some real direct and honest conversations.“We’re going to go forward with Zion.

He’s going to continue to be a focal point here as we go forward.”Williamson’s standing with the franchise came into question following the bombshell rape allegations made against him in a lawsuit filed last week by woman claiming to be his ex-girlfriend.The woman, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, alleges the forward raped her twice in 2020 and “continued to abuse, rape, assault and batter plaintiff” until their relationship ended in 2023.On Sept.23, 2020, the woman alleges Williamson “pinned Plaintiff down on the bed with her hands behind her back and raped her” after she refused to have sex with him.Williamson is also alleged to have called her “stuck up” and a “b—h.”Roughly one month later on Oct.

10, amid a discussion about Doe possibly visiting a friend, Williamson is alleged to have “picked her up, threw her down to the ground, and pinned her shoulders down so she could not move,” and then “violently raped Plaintiff in multiple ways.”The woman is seeking between $18 million to $50 million, according to ESPN.Williamson denied the allegations, and his legal counsel said they planned to file counterclaims and “seek significant damages for this defamatory lawsuit.”“We take these allegations with the utm...