Former NBA Player Ben McLemore Convicted of Rape

OREGON CITY, OR – Former NBA player Ben McLemore has been found guilty of rape, unlawful sexual penetration, and one count of sexual abuse by a Clackamas County jury. The verdict, delivered on Thursday, July 3, 2025, concludes a high-profile trial stemming from a 2021 incident at a lake house party.

McLemore, 32, was found not guilty on one additional count of sexual abuse. Sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth underscored the legal system’s impartiality in a statement following the conviction. “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,” Wentworth stated.

The charges originated from an event on October 3, 2021, at a Lake Oswego residence owned by McLemore’s then-Portland Trail Blazers teammate, Robert Covington. Prosecutors argued that the sexual encounter constituted rape, while McLemore’s defense maintained the act was consensual.

The 21-year-old victim testified that she was incapacitated after a night of heavy drinking and was therefore unable to give consent. Prosecutors submitted photographs purported to show the woman hovering over a toilet and later passed out on a couch. The victim recounted waking up during the assault and freezing in terror. “I don’t know who this person is,” she testified. “This is a random person that is doing something like this to me.” She described attempting to stop the assault by letting her body slide to the floor, only for McLemore to pull her back onto the couch and continue.

McLemore testified that he had also been drinking but asserted the sex was consensual. He stated that he and the woman did not have a conversation before, during, or after the act, after which he immediately left the home. One of his attorneys, Kris Winemiller, stated McLemore departed after receiving an angry message from his then-wife.

Clackamas County prosecutor Scott Healy maintained there was “no confusion” regarding the defendant’s guilt during closing arguments. Conversely, defense attorney Lisa Maxfield argued for McLemore’s acquittal, stating, “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.”

Robert Covington, McLemore’s former teammate, testified earlier in the trial that he had seen the woman flirting with McLemore while they sat on a couch.

The victim confirmed she did not hire an attorney to sue McLemore or seek financial compensation. Instead, she pursued the criminal case because, as she testified, “you can’t do that to somebody, let alone somebody that you don’t know.”

McLemore, who played college basketball at Kansas, was the seventh overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. His NBA career included stints with the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers before his final season with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021-2022. Since then, he has played professionally in Europe and China, signing with a team in Turkey last August.