Nik Stauskas: 'I wasn't trying to be controversial. I was just trying to keep it real'

Sacramento Kings rookie Nik Stauskas made headlines after his preseason debut Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors for a race-related comment.

"I'm a rookie and I'm white, so people are going to attack me at all times," Stauskas told media members. 

After his second preseason game, against the Raptors again on Tuesday, Stauskas cleared up his somewhat controversial comments.

"People kind of took it too far with what I was trying to say," Stauskas said, according to ESPN. "I wasn't trying to get anyone to feel sorry for me. I wasn't trying to be controversial or anything like that. I was just trying to keep it real.

"As a rookie in the NBA, you're going to get attacked on the court, you see that tonight," Stauskas, the No. 8 overall pick in June's draft, continued. "People make a point to go at me. It has a lot to do with reputation and kind of stereotypes of what your game is. For me, I look at my reputation, people look at me and obviously, 

"I'm not the best defender in the world, so people are going to make a point to go at me and try to attack me as much as they can. That's really what I was trying to say."

The Canadian swingman added that he wasn't trying to offend anyone and doesn't take his comments back.

"Some people may have a problem with it, some people may not, but if you've ever played the game of basketball, you understand that there's certain stereotypes and certain reputations that certain players have and based on that, people are going to play a certain way against you," Stauskas said.

Over his time at Michigan, Stauskas shook off a reputation as a pure shooter and proved himself as an effective slasher as well.

In two preseason contests with the Kings so far, the 21-year-old has scored 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, connecting on four of seven 3-point attempts.