LOS ANGELES - New Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton has been accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit by a former sports reporter.
"I thought he was going to rape me," Kelli Tennant said at a news conference Tuesday, one day after TMZ reported she was suing Walton.
Tennant alleges Walton attacked her when he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, which was from 2014-16.
Tennant said Walton, whom she considered to be a longtime friend and mentor, had written the foreword to a 2014 book she had written. She went to give him a copy while he stayed at a hotel in Santa Monica during a Warriors road trip to Los Angeles.
Tennant said Walton met her in the lobby and invited her back to his room. After discussing the book, Tennant said Walton suddenly grabbed her.
"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, adding when she asked him to get off, "he laughed at me."