New Sacramento Kings head coach and former Arizona Wildcats star Luke Walton is being sued by sports reporter Kelli Tennant for an alleged sexual assault that occurred in 2017, TMZ reported Monday.
Per TMZ, Walton has been accused of pinning Tennant to the bed in her hotel room and forcing himself on her in California in May 2017. Tennant, who had reportedly known Walton for years, had asked Walton to come to her room to assist her with a book she was working on, per TMZ.
The 39-year-old Walton was named head coach of the Kings on April 14. Two days earlier, he stepped down as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a position he had held since 2016.
The son of NBA legend Bill Walton, Luke Walton played basketball for the Arizona Wildcats from 1999-2003 and helped guide UA to the 2001 national championship game. He went on to play in 10 NBA seasons, most of which was spent with the Lakers. He won NBA championships with the Lakers as a player in 2009 and '10.
Walton was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors from 2014-16 before taking the Lakers head coaching job. He is married to former Arizona Wildcats volleyball player Bre Ladd, whom he met at UA. Ladd attended Canyon Del Oro High School in Tucson.
Tennant was a star volleyball player at USC who went on to cover the Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers as a sports reporter. In 2014, she released a book titled "The Transition: Every Athlete's Guide to Life After Sports." She currently hosts a podcast called Ceremony Wellness.
