Walton won’t face discipline by NBA

The Sacramento Kings and NBA announced Friday they did not find sufficient evidence to support sexual assault accusations against coach Luke Walton made by former Spectrum SportsNet host Kelli Tennant.

During a joint investigation that began in April following a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, “more than twenty individuals were interviewed, including Coach Walton, and numerous documents and other relevant materials were reviewed,” the statement read in part. “The investigators made repeated attempts to interview Ms. Tennant, but, through her counsel, she declined the opportunity to participate.”

Walton released a statement: “I am 100% focused on coaching the Sacramento Kings, and energized to work with this incredible group of players and coaches as we start the preseason,” he said. “I will have no further comment.”

Walton was hired by the Kings on April 13, just one day after being dismissed by the Lakers from his first head coaching job.

The Kings said in a statement: “Luke Walton is our head coach and we support him and his team as they continue to prepare for the upcoming season.”

Tennant’s lawsuit is pending. In it, she alleged that Walton assaulted her at the Casa Del Mar hotel in Santa Monica while he was an assistant for the Golden State Warriors during the years 2014 to 2016. She said she visited Walton at the team hotel to provide him a copy of a book she’d written, and, she said, for which he had written a foreword. She said Walton continued making unwanted advances and contact when he became the Lakers’ coach in 2016. — Tania Ganguli

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