🔴 Website 👉 https://u-s-news.com/
Telegram 👉 https://t.me/usnewscom_channel
Ben McLemore, a former top-10 NBA draft pick, was found guilty of raping a woman in 2021 while playing with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The former Kansas star was selected 7th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2013 NBA draft.
After 10 hours of deliberations following an 11-day trial, an Oregon jury found McLemore guilty of raping a woman at a party in Lake Oswego.
McLemore was found guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and second-degree sexual abuse.
The 32-year-old was found not guilty on an additional count of second-degree sexual abuse.
He pled not guilty to all four counts.
McLemore’s sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9th.
Ben McLemore has been found guilty of raping a 21-year-old woman at a 2021 house party in Lake Oswego. He was convicted on 3 of 4 charges, including first-degree rape, per @KGWNews
“The jury found former Portland Trail Blazer Ben McLemore guilty Thursday morning of rape and… pic.twitter.com/2IUlPH6dKf
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 3, 2025
More info from ESPN:
“We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County. This case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts regardless of the offender’s community status,” Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth said in a statement.
The charges stem from a report of sexual assault in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on Oct. 3, 2021. Police began investigating, and McLemore was identified as a suspect.
In February 2024, a Clackamas County grand jury heard evidence in the case, including testimony from the woman who said McLemore assaulted her, and issued an indictment against McLemore as well as an arrest warrant, according to police from Lake Oswego.
U.S. Marshals arrested McLemore two months later.
An Oregon jury convicted former NBA player Ben McLemore on rape and sexual abuse charges that emerged from a 2021 party he attended while a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. https://t.co/eQxCjnTjyS
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 4, 2025
Yahoo Sports provided additional details:
The incident in question occurred on Oct. 3, 2021 at a party at the home of McLemore’s then-Blazers teammate Robert Covington. Prosecutors said the victim was “hammered unconscious drunk,” to the point of vomiting and having difficulty walking. She reportedly passed out on a living room couch at 2 a.m.
McLemore allegedly began sleeping on the same couch and woke up the victim at 6 a.m. by penetrating her with his fingers then having sexual intercourse with her. The victim was reportedly still “fading in and out” of consciousness, but sought a specialized medical examination for victims of sexual assault later that day.
In his defense, McLemore’s legal team claimed the encounter was consensual, and that he was also even more drunk than the victim, via KGW:
Defense attorney Lisa Maxfield argued McLemore should be acquitted. “The only reasonable verdict in a case where two people get drunk and have sex and the man is drunker than the woman, the only reasonable verdict in a case like that is not guilty,” said Maxfield.
McLemore was first arrested in April 2024, and promised the “truth will come to light” shortly after being released on bail.
The seventh overall pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, McLemore has not appeared in the NBA since the 2021-22 season. He played in the NBA for nine years, with stints on the Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings, the team that originally drafted him.
Watch additional coverage below: