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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Kings forward Nocioni arrested for suspected DUI

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Sacramento Kings forward Andres Nocioni was arrested early this morning on suspicion of drunk driving.

Nocioni, 29, was arrested by Sacramento Police and booked into Sacramento County Jail at 3:30 a.m., a posting on the Sacramento County Jail Web site shows. He was released this morning on $1,482 bail.

A Sacramento police spokesman said that at about 2 a.m. an officer noticed a motorist southbound on 15th Street near L Street whose vehicle was weaving within its lane. The car turned and headed west on L Street and was stopped by the officer near Ninth and L streets.

The officer noticed an odor of alcohol when speaking with the driver, Nocioni, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The Kings have had no comment on Nocioni's arrest, and the player offered no comment when he was released from jail this morning.

If convicted of driving under the influence, Nocioni could face sanctions from the NBA, based on precedent from earlier this season when Phoenix guard Jason Richardson was suspended for two games by the NBA after pleading guilty to DUI charges.

Nocioni, from Argentina, is known for his scrappy style and hard-nosed ways on the basketball court. He helped Argentina knock the United States out of contention in the 2004 Olympic Games en route to a gold medal.

In the National Basketball Association, he was Chicago's Player of the Year in 2005-06, when the Bulls went 41-41 and fell to eventual champion Miami in the first round of the playoffs.

Chicago went 49-33 in 2006-07 and swept the Heat in the first round before falling in six games to Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Last February, the Bulls agreed to take center Brad Miller and small forward John Salmons for forwards Drew Gooden, Nocioni, Cedric Simmons and Michael Ruffin. In a later trade, the Kings sent Ruffin to Portland for fourth-year forward Ike Diogu.

Nocioni is not the first King player or coach to be stopped by law enforcement.

In 2007, former Kings Coach Eric Musselman pleaded no contest in Sacramento Superior Court to charges of driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 48 hours of work project and three years of informal probation and fined $580 plus other penalties for his 2006 DUI arrest.

In 2000, former Sacramento Kings Chris Webber and Jason Williams were acquitted of misdemeanor charges of speeding and reckless driving. After a daylong non-jury trial, a Sacramento Superior Court judge found that prosecutors had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt exactly what happened on Interstate 80 and nearby streets.

The Bee's Jason Jones contributed to this report.