A former Sacramento Kings employee has taken the organization to court, filing a civil complaint in Sacramento Superior Court that names the team and Senior Director of Athletic Health Jaspreet Randhawa as defendants and raises allegations of pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
The lawsuit was filed by Crystal Lee, a former assistant athletic trainer for the Kings, according to ESPN. Lee says her claims add up to eight causes of action, and the team’s legal response has been blunt: the Kings deny everything.
Alexis Gabrielson, counsel for the Kings, told ESPN:
“The Sacramento Kings categorically deny these allegations and reject the characterization of the organization and its workplace reflected in these claims made by a former disgruntled employee. 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 time with the team ran from 2022 until 2025, when she was fired on June 12, 2025. In the complaint, she says she was demoted twice during that span.
The first came after she gave birth, when the team allegedly chose not to send her on road games. The second, she claims, was when athletic trainer was removed from her job title entirely.
General Manager Scott Perry is not listed as a defendant, but the complaint says he met with Lee several times late in her tenure, including on the day she was fired. One allegation in the filing says Perry told Lee he wanted to create a safe space for her concerns during an introductory meeting in April, then changed course when she raised issues with him.
The complaint says he told her that “complainers will not be tolerated.” It also alleges Perry said that if complaints kept coming in her department, he would just “fire everybody.”
Current Kings head coach Doug Christie is also mentioned in the complaint, though he is not named as a defendant. The filing alleges that Christie “repeatedly harassed Ms.
Lee by checking her out.” It says that on multiple occasions, Christie looked her up and down and ended the interaction by saying, “Don't report me to HR.”
According to the complaint, those remarks made Lee deeply uncomfortable.
Lee’s attorney 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.”
The legal process is just getting started, and the complaint is available on the Sacramento County Superior Court website.
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