Ex-NBA star Dwight Howard says man's assault allegations 'frivolous' - ESPN

Former NBA star Dwight Howard has argued that allegations of sexual assault and battery against him are baseless and that a Georgia court should immediately rule in his favor and dismiss the charges without a trial.

A Gwinnett County court in Georgia has yet to make a decision regarding the petition, but, in a Thursday filing that was obtained by ESPN, Howard's attorneys again claim that Howard and a man named Stephen Harper engaged in a consensual encounter involving a third person at Howard's Georgia residence in July 2021.

Harper filed a lawsuit in July with his lawyers accusing Howard of sexually assaulting him during the encounter, along with «intentional infliction of emotional distress» and false imprisonment.

In October, Howard denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss the case.

On Thursday, Howard's attorneys went further, alleging that key text messages were deleted and not part of the initial complaint filed by Harper's attorneys.

Howard's attorneys also alleged that a pull of the iMessage conversation between Harper and Howard revealed that some messages were doctored.

Thursday's filing includes screenshots of alleged text messages between Howard and Harper that were not in the initial complaint.

«In short, the totality of the text messages between Mr. Howard and Mr. Harper make it abundantly clear that Mr. Harper's claims are frivolous, that he was a willing participant in the events of July 19, 2021 and the early morning hours of July 20, 2021, and that the touching of his person had been invited by him,» Howard's attorneys write in Thursday's filing.

«More importantly, the explicit messages not only show consent but also that Mr. Harper was initiating some of the sexual contact. Mr. Harper not