Neil Olschi, head of basketball operations, said the club had hired an independent company to examine allegations of sexual assault and determine whether the incident was non-consensual.

“We support Chauncey, everyone in the organization, and we believe it’s the right choice for him to be our head coach, and to be the kind of ambassadors in the Portland community that we’re all used to here,” Olshe said.

Pelops, a five-time NBA All-Star nominee during his 17-year football career, was never a head coach. He was a deputy with the Los Angeles Clippers last season.

Pelops, 44, spoke at length about the skepticism that arose from the 1997 allegations, noting that “there is not a day” that I don’t think about the repercussions the decision could have on people’s lives.

“I learned from a young age – as a player, not just as a player but as a young man and woman – that every decision has consequences,” Billups said.

“And that led to some really healthy, but difficult conversations that I had to have with my wife, who was my girlfriend in 1997, and my daughters about what really happened, and what they might have to do with me in the news and the press.”