Every NBA locker room has behind-the-scenes athletic trainers who take care of their players but never get caught up in the limelight. But things have been different this week for those unseen employees from a particular team, the Sacramento Kings, which is facing a serious lawsuit from a former trainer.
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Crystal Lee was an assistant athletic trainer for the team from 2022 to 2025, the same title she held while working for the San Antonio Spurs in 2021-22, and for the NBA itself from Nov. 2018 to May 2021. Now, she is reportedly suing the Kings and Jaspreet Randhawa, the Kings’ senior director of athlete health, for pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
Per documents filed in court obtained by ESPN, Lee claims that after learning about her pregnancy, Randhawa said to her, “You’re f—–” and later added that her life is “ruined after you have kids.” The claim also accuses Randhawa of creating an unfavorable work culture, where “if you were not working around the clock, you were not committed.”
Lee was reportedly taken off road games during the second trimester of her pregnancy in February 2023 and, in April 2023, subsequently downgraded from being an assistant athletic trainer to “administrator, health & performance/assistant athletic trainer,” a role that could be done remotely. Lee claims that Randhawa and the Kings’ assistant general manager, Wes Wilcox, assured her the change was temporary. But that promise was allegedly not kept.
Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Lee returned from maternity leave. But a month later, the Kings reportedly hired another assistant athletic trainer, and she was still kept off road games despite her asking to work those. In September 2024, the suit claims that the team demoted Lee, removing assistant athletic trainer from her title.
The suit also highlights an encounter in May 2025 between Lee and Scott Perry, the Kings’ general manager, during which Lee expressed her frustrations over being benched after giving birth. According to the lawsuit, the response she got was that “complainers will not be tolerated.”
According to the lawsuit, that interaction led to Lee escalating the matter to the VP of Human Resources. But a month passed, and instead of a resolution, Lee was fired, and the alleged reason given by the Kings was an “alleged failure to meet performance expectations.”
But the Kings and their lawyers have stood firmly against these accusations.
Kings Reject Lee’s Claims, Vow to Defend Case in Court
Alexis Gabrielson, the Sacramento Kings’ lawyer, told ESPN in a statement that they deny the allegations presented by Crystal Lee.
“The Sacramento Kings categorically deny these allegations and reject the characterization of the organization and its workplace reflected in these claims made by a disgruntled former employee,” Gabrielson said in a statement. “The Kings take allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously and are committed to maintaining a workplace where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. The organization intends to vigorously defend against these claims through the legal process and will not comment further on the pending proceedings.”
On the other side, Robert King, Lee’s attorney, said they have made prior efforts to resolve the dispute outside court, including a mediation session, but to no avail.
“We have made prior efforts to resolve this matter with the Kings that were unsuccessful,” King said. “We did attend a mediation with the Kings in an effort to resolve this.”
The lawsuit also references past interactions between Lee and Doug Christie, now the Kings’ head coach, though Christie is not named as a defendant. The NBA had not responded to ESPN’s request for comment as of the report.