The arrest of Sacramento Kings forward Andres Nocioni early Thursday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence is just the latest chapter in a three-year span of bad news and bad luck that have cast a shadow on the franchise.

Nocioni, 29, was arrested by Sacramento police and booked into Sacramento County jail at 3:30 a.m., a posting on the jail's Web site shows. He was released Thursday morning on $1,482 bail and practiced with the team in the afternoon.

"I want to apologize to Sacramento Kings owners, coaches, general manager, players, fans and especially my family," Nocioni said. "I have two kids so this is not a good example for my kids. I'm really sorry for what has happened."

Just hours before his arrest, Nocioni made his first start of the season in Wednesday's 113-105 loss to Atlanta Hawks at Arco Arena. He played a season-high 32 minutes and scored 14 points.

The Bee was unable to confirm which nightclub – or clubs – Nocioni visited after the game. However, the arrest was made down the street from several of Sacramento's more trendy nightspots.

According to a Police Department spokesman, an officer noticed Nocioni's car weaving in its lane on L Street near 15th Street at about 2 a.m. The car also stopped at a yellow flashing light despite no traffic and no pedestrians.

The officer stopped the car at L and Ninth streets, and smelled alcohol when she approached the vehicle, police said. The officer conducted field sobriety tests before arresting Nocioni on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Nocioni was said to be cooperative throughout the process.

Police did not release the results of a blood-alcohol test.

"There's no past history here," said Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie. "Hopefully an isolated but very, very unfortunate event. He's actually been playing better. He's a very good teammate. I'm sure he'll do everything he can to move past it and make it right."

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league is monitoring the situation.

Petrie said disciplinary action would not be taken until the judicial process has been completed, and he called Nocioni's arrest a "life lesson" for the team.

First-year Kings coach Paul Westphal said Thursday's arrest is a distraction that can be overcome.

"It is a distraction, but you have to overcome distractions just like you have to overcome everything else, good and bad," Westphal said. "Sometimes good things can become a distraction. You pull together and fight."

Nocioni can expect to be disciplined by the league if he pleads no contest or is found guilty of drunken driving.

Phoenix Suns guard Jason Richardson was suspended by the NBA for the first two games of the 2009-10 season after pleading guilty to drunken driving following an arrest in Arizona.

While Petrie said Thursday's arrest was an isolated incident, it was just the latest setback for the organization since the 2005-06 season, the last time the team advanced to the playoffs.

The bad news for the Kings continued Thursday afternoon when the team announced that leading scorer Kevin Martin, also the team's highest paid player, could miss six to eight weeks after an MRI revealed a non-displaced hairline fracture of the navicular bone in his left, non-shooting wrist.

Martin was the league's third-leading scorer with a 30.6-point average.

In the preseason, veteran swingman Francisco García broke his right wrist in a fall from an exercise ball that burst under him while he was lifting weights. He isn't expected to return until February.

In October 2006, then-Kings head coach Eric Musselman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving following an exhibition win over the Utah Jazz. Musselman had a blood alcohol level of 0.11, above the legal limit. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 48 hours of work project, three years of informal probation and a $580 fine. The league suspended the coach for two games.

Musselman was fired when the Kings failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.

In March 2007, former Kings forward Ron Artest was arrested and charged with four counts of misdemeanor domestic violence. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. The league suspended him for the first seven games of the 2007-08 season.

Once one of the NBA's most visible teams, the Kings have fallen off the national map. After playing in 22 nationally televised games in the 2006-07 season – including ESPN, ABC and TNT – the Kings since have played just once on ESPN.

Jairo Moncada, past president of the Sacramento Public Relations Association, said the team is doing all the right things so far in its handling of the Kings' latest PR nightmare.

A quick apology and taking full responsibility are effective. In today's celebrity culture "just apologizing goes a long way," Moncada said.

"It's definitely a blemish they don't want. They can't afford the negative publicity, given the state of the franchise right now," Moncada said.

Led by Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Kings and community business leaders made a push to sell out the first home game of the season. Monday night's overtime victory against the Memphis Grizzlies was a sellout.

Wednesday night's announced attendance for the Kings game against Atlanta was 11,104, but the arena appeared to be less than half full.

Nocioni, of Argentina, was traded to the Kings last February from the Bulls in a deal that sent center Brad Miller and small forward John Salmons to Chicago for Nocioni, Cedric Simmons and Michael Ruffin. Only Nocioni remains with the Kings from that trade.

The six-year player is expected to be with the team when it plays the Utah Jazz on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Robert Lewis, Bill Lindelof and Sheila Kern contributed to this report.