Chicago, Aug 27 (IANS): American professional basketball player Derrick Rose is allegedly being sued by his ex-girlfriend, who has claimed that he and two of his friends drugged and gang raped her.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe, said she and the basketball player who currently plays for the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association (NBA) league, dated from 2011 to 2013.

During that time, Rose allegedly tried to pressurise her to allow him to have sex with her friends and engage in group sex with strangers, all of which she said she refused, tmz.com reported on Wednesday.

The woman said that the two continued to date until August 2013, when Rose and two of his friends, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton (who is also Rose's personal manager), invited her to the NBA star's Beverly Hills house. She said there they slipped a drug into her drink with the aim of raping her.

Doe said she escaped from the house with a friend, but later that night, Rose and his friends broke into her apartment and gang raped her while she was incapacitated. She says she remembers only "flashes" of the incident, but can remember the defendants raping her.

She claimed that she waited for two years to file the suit because she was "ashamed and embarrassed" about what had happened and was concerned that her "conservative family" would find out.

On the other hand, Rose and his lawyer came out swinging, claiming that Doe had repeatedly tried to squeeze him for money.

Rose's attorney Lisa Cohen said that the lawsuit is "an attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete."

Cohen added that Doe and the Chicago Bulls star were in a "non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship for over two years" and there were never any complaints until lawyers started telling her to go after Rose for a payday.

Cohen claimed that this is the third attorney Doe has hired to sue Rose.

"We have complete confidence that the case will be dismissed and that Rose will be vindicated. This lawsuit is outrageous," the lawyer added.