Comments
AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer
The Portland Trail Blazers hired Chauncey Billups as their head coach despite a rape allegation made against the former NBA star in 1997 when he was a member of the Boston Celtics.
Portland said it did its due diligence in the case prior to the team hiring him during his introductory press conference.
"With all sincerity, and you have my word ... we took the allegations very seriously, and we took them with the gravity that they deserved," Blazers general manager Neil Olshey said, per SeanHighkin of Bleacher Report.
"We commissioned our own independent investigation into the incident in 1997," he added. "Our investigation corroborated what Chauncey told us, that nothing non-consensual occurred. We stand by Chauncey."