A former athletic trainer for the Sacramento Kings is suing the NBA team for allegedly firing her due to her pregnancy
In her lawsuit, filed Aug. 11 in California Superior Court, Crystal Lee contends that from the moment she informed higher-ups she was pregnant, she faced discrimination for becoming a mother. The suit outlines several instances where team officials dismissed her concerns and reduced her responsibilities before ultimately firing her in June 2025. In addition to pregnancy discrimination, the suit also includes allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination
Lee joined the Kings in 2022 as an assistant athletic trainer, a role she says required her to be on call at all times. Despite her popularity with the players, the lawsuit said, news of her pregnancy prompted Jas Randhawa, her boss and the team’s senior director of athlete health, to mock her
“When she told him she was pregnant, he laughed and told her, ‘You’re f—ed,’ an opinion he reiterated when he later opined, ‘Your life is ruined after you have kids,’” the lawsuit said. “He also made comments disparaging caretaking obligations more generally and the inconvenience Randhawa believed they posed.”
In a statement Thursday, Alexis Gabrielson, an attorney representing the Kings, denied any wrongdoing and pushed back on Lee’s criticism of the team’s culture
“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 the 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.”
Randhawa is named as a defendant in the suit, which accuses him of repeated demeaning behavior and of demotions that minimized Lee’s role. The Kings said they will not comment further as the case proceeds
A month before she began maternity leave, Lee said she was told she would not be traveling with the Kings for road games, despite her doctor saying she was fit to do so. She returned from leave in July 2023 — three months before the team’s Oct. 25 opener — but in September, the Kings hired a new assistant athletic trainer to replace her at away games
Those decisions came in conjunction with Lee’s demotion “to a position that, according to its job description, left travel to the discretion of the Kings’ staff,” she alleges
Lee said she asked Randhawa and Joel Noland, the team’s head athletic trainer, to let her go back to traveling with the team once she returned, but was told she was not needed. She further accuses them in the lawsuit of preventing her from professional development opportunities and refusing to let her attend the NBA combine. Later, she was again demoted to a role that mainly consisted of clerical work
When she complained about the situation to Kings general manager Scott Perry, he “merely told her that ‘complainers will not be tolerated,’ the lawsuit said. Lee said she then took her complaints to human re
The lawsuit also claims the Kings did not provide lactation accommodations. It goes on to accuse Doug Christie, a former Kings assistant coach who took over as interim head coach in December 2024, of sexual harassment. The suit also alleges a son of former Kings head coach Mike Brown repeatedly harassed Lee while he was working as an intern for the team
Lee is seeking a jury trial and monetary damages. Court records show the case is set for an “initial case management conference” on June 8, 2027
