New Orleans Pelicans player Zion Williamson has been accused of rape in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.

The court filings state that Williamson, 24, is accused of two rapes, both in Beverly Hills in 2020.

The accuser is seeking damages for assault, sexual battery, domestic violence, burglary, stalking and false imprisonment.

The lawsuit describes the alleged abuse as “sexual, physical, emotional, and financial in nature”.

Williamson – the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft – does not face criminal charges.

Williamson’s attorneys released a statement describing the allegations as “categorically false and reckless”, and said the NBA star’s legal team would seek “significant damages for this defamatory lawsuit”.

“This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance,” legal firm Barrasso-Usdin-Kupperman-Freeman & Sarver told US media.

The firm claim that Williamson previously reported the claimant to law enforcement over alleged extortion attempts.

Speaking to US media the woman’s lawyer, Sam Taylor II, who is with the Lanier Law Firm in Los Angeles, said: “This is a very serious case as reflected in the allegations in the complaint, which are pretty detailed.”

The New Orleans Pelicans have been approached for comment.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have another injury on their hands, but one that apparently isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Former MVP Mookie Betts fractured his toe after stubbing it against a wall while walking in a dark bathroom Wednesday night, he told Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times on Friday. However, he expects to miss only two days, as the issue is only pain management.

In a sport that features plenty of odd injuries at home, that is definitely one of them.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed to reporters that Betts is not expected to go on the injured list, but won’t play for the rest of L.A.’s current series against the New York Yankees, per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.

Roberts told reporters before the game, an 8-5 comeback win over the Yankees, that Betts had stubbed his toe Wednesday and was undergoing X-rays, which ended up revealing the fracture. With 14 players already on the injured list, all of them pitchers, the Dodgers don’t need another injury.

Roberts lamented the issue via The Athletic:

“It just keeps coming,” Roberts said. “It’s Murphy’s law. But, yeah, this is a weird one.”

Even if Betts misses only a couple more days, that still means he would miss the final two games of a marquee series for MLB between the Yankees and Dodgers. If he had been in the game Friday, the two teams would have made history with the first game to feature three former MVPs in each lineup: Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman on the Dodgers and Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger on the Yankees.

Of course, Betts and the Dodgers don’t care about that as much as MLB’s TV partners do. 

It’s been a mostly down season at the plate for Betts, an eight-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger and six-time Gold Glover. He’s slashing .254/.338/.405 in 53 games this season, with all three numbers representing career lows. However, he has also been supplying much-needed defense at shortstop for the Dodgers, who will feel the loss heavily if Betts has to miss more time than he thinks.

Anyone who feared the New York Yankees would repeat history — blowing a big lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers like they did in the fifth inning of the 2024 World Series — could breathe easy Friday.

They blew the lead in the sixth inning this time.

In their first meeting since a 2024 World Series that ended with the Dodgers raising a trophy and the Yankees swallowing instant infamy, both teams followed a similar script in an 8-5 Dodgers win. First came the Yankees runs, then the Dodgers comeback, aided and abetted by New York’s miscues.

Aaron Judge, Austin Wells, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt all hit homers off Dodgers starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin in the first three innings, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead despite a first-inning response from Shohei Ohtani.

Granted, it wasn’t a 5-0 lead like the one the Yankees blew in Game 5 of the 2024 Fall Classic, but the game certainly had a similar vibe as the Dodgers responded in the sixth inning. Ohtani got things started with his second homer of the game, pushing him to 22 on the season and a Dodgers record-tying 15 in May.

That was the beginning of a painful inning for the Yankees, as the next four Dodgers reached base to tie the game and leave runners on the corners with no outs. 

A Tommy Edman fielder’s choice and Max Muncy intentional walk loaded the bases with one out, setting up Michael Conforto for some heroics.

Conforto walked, giving the Dodgers a 6-5 lead and the Yankees another mistake to ponder.

The Dodgers added to their lead with two more runs in the seventh inning, with Freddie Freeman somehow sliding under a throw that beat him to home plate by several feet. Replay upheld the safe call on the field.

Friday was the first game of a three-game series between the two premier franchises of MLB, with a little history together beyond the World Series. The Dodgers beat the Yankees, yes, but they and their fans also talked a not-small amount of trash about how the Yankees blew Game 5.

The Yankees took a bit of umbrage over that, and had a great chance to respond on the field Friday. Instead, they just gave the trash-talkers more material.

The win improves the Dodgers’ record to an NL West-best 35-22, while the Yankees are now 35-21, still tops in the AL East. The next game of the series is Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET.

The World Series rematch between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers got off to a perfect start, if you enjoy superstars doing what they do best.

Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, both reigning MVPs favored to take home the award again in 2025, traded home runs in the first inning of a three-game series between last year’s World Series participants. They were the opening shot of a dramatic 8-5 win for the Dodgers.

Judge struck first, going yard against Tony Gonsolin for his 19th homer of the season, tying him with Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh for the American League lead. Raleigh homered minutes later to take the lead back with 20.

Then came Ohtani, crushing a first pitch from Max Fried, something he is in the habit of doing these days, for his MLB-best 21st homer of the season. 

Dodger Stadium was definitely enjoying itself, but the loudest cheers might have been coming from the MLB league office. Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, it was the second game in MLB history that both reigning MVPs homered, joining Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada in 2003.

Ohtani homered again in the sixth inning, his 22nd of the season and 15th of May. The latter mark ties him with Pedro Guerrero (June 1985) and Duke Snider (August 1953) for the most in a month in Dodgers history.

A year after MLB’s first 50-50 season, Ohtani is on pace for a 63-homer, 32-steal season, which would also be unprecedented. That homer was also the first run of the Dodgers’ four-run inning to take the lead in another comeback win over the Yankees.

Friday was the first game of a weekend series between MLB’s two premier franchises, and the Yankees’ first chance for some payback. As baseball fans might remember, the Dodgers beat the Yankees in five games in the 2024 World Series — with the Yankees beating themselves in Game 5 — and were not shy about how little they thought of their opponent over the offseason.

The Yankees took some umbrage, and are now off to a 35-20 start that has them atop the AL East by seven games. The Dodgers entered Friday sitting at 34-22 with a two-game lead in the NL West. 

Friday also could have been the first MLB game to feature three MVPs in each lineup — Judge, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt vs. Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — but a stubbed toe knocked Betts out for the game. He’ll undergo X-rays, with a chance to still make history this weekend if they come back clean.

Both teams have struggled with injuries this season, but as long as Judge and Ohtani are around, the series won’t lack for starpower.

Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Evan Phillips will miss the rest of the season and some of the 2026 campaign as he is set to undergo Tommy John surgery. 

After being sidelined with a rotator cuff injury during the Doders’ World Series win over the New York Yankees in October, Phillips returned to the mound in April. However, his return was short-lived, as he was placed back on the injured list May 7 after just seven appearances due to discomfort in his forearm.

On Friday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced the end of Phillips’ season ahead of Los Angeles’ rematch with New York, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Roberts also noted Phillips tried playing catch earlier this week, which “didn’t go well.”

Phillips had already been placed on the 60-day IL a day earlier, with Roberts telling reporters the injury had worsened. 

“It’s starting to get a little concerning,” Roberts said, via MLB.com. “I don’t know how long we can give it until he can attempt to start playing catch again. I’m getting a little kind of concerned, but hoping for the best.”

After the initial forearm discomfort, Phillips received an MRI that showed no structural damage but revealed inflammation in his elbow. The Dodgers apparently found some damage later, as Tommy John surgery is the procedure for torn UCLs.

Phillips has made 201 regular-season appearances in five seasons for the Dodgers. During his time in Los Angeles, he boasted a 2.22 ERA with 45 saves and 221 strikeouts over 195 innings. He also was impressive in the playoffs, allowing zero earned runs over 12 games and 15.1 innings.

The Salisbury, Maryland, native spent his first four seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays — posting a 7.26 ERA across 49 appearances.

Phillips and the Dodgers avoided salary arbitration in January by agreeing on a one-year, $6.1 million deal. Unfortunately, he now joins a laundry list of injuries for the Dodgers, who have six other relievers out with injuries. The team partially addressed those woes Thursday with a trade for former Reds closer Alexis Díaz.

The defending World Series champions are 34-22, sitting atop the NL West after an eighth-inning meltdown against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday. 

Amari Avery played the U.S. Women’s Open in Wisconsin on Friday while her clubs were en route from Los Angeles, due to a scary night and a mix-up the next morning.

According to Golf Channel’s Paige Mackenzie, the 20-year-old Avery played the second round at Erin Hills with competitor Gabriela Ruffels’ set of clubs after a chaotic 24 hours. The trouble began when someone allegedly attempted to break into her rental home the night after the first round.

Avery and her boyfriend, USC golfer Gavin Aurilia, responded by quickly packing up their things and running to a hotel. Crucially, Aurilia and Avery, who also played for USC, apparently have the same travel bags, so when Aurilia left to return to Los Angeles the next morning, he accidentally took all of Avery’s equipment with him.

Ruffels, another fellow Trojan, played her round earlier in the morning and offered Avery her bag. Meanwhile’s Aurilia’s mother was reportedly en route to Erin Hills with Avery’s clubs.

Avery reportedly even took the Nike visor off Ruffels’ head.

Per Golf Channel, Avery and Ruffels use a very similar set of TaylorMade clubs. Ruffels also didn’t need her clubs after missing the cut at 7-over in the morning.

Avery, who shot a 1-under 71 in the first round, didn’t miss a beat. When play was suspended due to dangerous weather, she was tied for 19th at 2-under and in contention behind leader Mao Saigo (8-under).

Avery is in her second year as a professional after an All-American career at USC. She previously made the cut at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at 18 years old.