Luke Walton's Attorney Accuses Kelli Tennant's Lawyer of Making 'Public Circus'

Luke Walton's attorney has issued a new statement regarding the sexual assault lawsuit filed against the Sacramento Kings head coach.  

Per Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, Mark Baute again denied the allegations against Walton and accused Kelli Tennant's legal representatives of trying to "create a public circus to distract from their complete lack of evidence to support their outrageous claims."

TMZ reported Tuesday that Tennant's lawsuit accuses Walton of "placing his hips and legs over her body" after pinning her to a bed and "forcing kisses on her neck, face and chest" at a hotel room during the period when he was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. 

Baute provided similar comments in an email to The Athletic's Sam Amick Tuesday when the lawsuit was first reported. 

"Luke Walton retained me to defend him against these baseless allegations," Baute wrote. "The accuser is an opportunist, not a victim, and her claim is not credible. We intend to prove this in a courtroom."

Tennant held a press conference with her attorneys Tuesday afternoon to discuss the lawsuit. 

"I am no longer comfortable being silent about the things that have happened to me," she told reporters. "Although this may come as a shock to many of you in this community, this is a reality that I have been living with for years."

One of Tennant's lawyers, Garo Mardirossian, told reporters they didn't want to put Walton in jail, but Tennant came forward in order "to feel better about herself, to come out and talk about what happened to her."

Walton was hired by the Kings earlier this month after his three-season run with the Los Angeles Lakers ended with a parting of the ways on April 12.