Former NBA star Dwight Howard has denied allegations of sexual assault, battery and false imprisonment that were filed against him in July and asked a court to dismiss a civil lawsuit he is facing in Georgia.

Howard said that he engaged in “consensual sexual activity” with a man during a July 2021 encounter at Howard’s residence in the Atlanta suburb of Suwanee, according to court documents obtained by the Guardian. The former No 1 overall draft pick denied that he caused any injury to Harper, in addition to allegations of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and false imprisonment, according to the filing.

The 37-year-old Howard, who played most recently for Taiwan’s Taoyuan Leopards, was responding to a July complaint in which he was alleged to have started a correspondence with the plaintiff over Instagram direct messages. The exchange led to an in-person meeting at Howard’s house where the alleged sexual assault occurred.

The attorney for the plaintiff, Olga Izmaylova, told ESPN that her client did not consent to the sexual encounter, saying: “We fully anticipated Mr Howard to raise the issue of consent in [Monday’s filing].”