Former assistant athletic trainer Crystal Lee has filed a lawsuit against the Sacramento Kings alleging pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
Lee, who worked for the NBA franchise from 2022 until 2025, submitted the filing in California Superior Court, claiming team officials demoted her during and after her pregnancy.
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball franchise based in Sacramento, California, competing in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association. Professional athletic trainers in the NBA manage player health, injury recovery, and physical conditioning while traveling extensively during the regular season.
Allegations against health director
According to court documents obtained by ESPN, Lee alleges that Jaspreet Randhawa, the Kings' senior director of athlete health, made hostile comments after learning of her pregnancy in early 2023.
The suit claims Randhawa told Lee, "You're f***ed," and asserted that her life "is ruined after you have kids." Randhawa also allegedly fostered a toxic workplace culture where staff were made to feel uncommitted if they did not work around the clock.
Lee claims the Kings restricted her role during her second trimester in February 2023 by barring her from traveling to road games. Two months later, the team formally demoted her to an administrative role, telling her the change was temporary.
After returning from maternity leave, Lee asserts that the Kings hired another full-time trainer, kept her off road trips, and ignored her repeated requests to work away games.
Demotions and team response
In September 2024, the franchise demoted Lee again by stripping "assistant athletic trainer" from her title entirely. The change effectively prevented her from treating Kings players or performing her trained duties.
The court filing highlights negative interactions Lee claims to have had with current head coach Doug Christie while he served as an assistant coach. Christie is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
When Lee raised concerns in April 2025 about being excluded because she had a child, executives offered to help her find training positions with other professional teams or their NBA G League minor league affiliate instead.
During a May 2025 meeting with general manager Scott Perry, who is also not named as a defendant, Lee alleges Perry explicitly told her that "complainers will not be tolerated" within the franchise.
Termination and legal statements
Lee formally reported her grievances to Stacy Wegzyn, the Kings' vice president of human resources, the following week.
The following month, Perry and Wegzyn fired Lee. The suit alleges the reason given was that she "failed to meet performance expectations," such as not updating expense reports.
The Kings have denied all allegations put forward by Lee. In a statement to ESPN, Kings attorney Alexis Gabrielson said: "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 added: "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."
Lee's attorney Robert King told ESPN: "We have made prior efforts to resolve this matter with the Kings that were unsuccessful. We did attend a mediation with the Kings in an effort to resolve this."
