The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors agreed to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit alleging the Raptors stole 1000’s of confidential recordsdata from the Knicks, based on a court docket submitting obtained by ESPN. The groups dismissed the go well with with prejudice, completely ending the authorized dispute. The case was initially set to be settled this summer time, almost two years after the Knicks filed the go well with in August 2023.
“The Knicks and [Raptors owner] Maple Leaf Sports activities & Leisure withdrew their respective claims and the matter is resolved,” staff spokespersons mentioned to ESPN. “The Events are centered on the longer term.”
The Knicks alleged within the 2023 lawsuit that the Raptors recruited Ikechukwu Azotam — who labored because the Knicks’ assistant video coordinator — and ordered him to ship them confidential materials together with play frequency reviews, a prep guide for the 2022-23 season, video scouting recordsdata and opposition analysis. The staff sought $10 million in damages.
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The Knicks alleged that the Raptors, who had just lately employed coach Darko Rajaković, “conspired to make use of Azotam’s place as a present Knicks insider to funnel proprietary data to the Raptors to assist them set up, plan, and construction the brand new teaching and video operations employees.”
The Raptors in October 2023 filed a movement to dismiss, argued that the claims have been “baseless” and mentioned the knowledge was publicly out there to all NBA members. They requested NBA commissioner Adam Silver to step in, and a U.S. District Court docket decide dominated final 12 months, to the Knicks’ chagrin, that Silver ought to resolve the dispute. He was set to supervise the settlement in an arbitration assembly in July.
It’s a uncommon prevalence for NBA groups to sue each other. The one different recognized case got here in 1977 when the Knicks have been concerned in a dispute with the Nets. They claimed that the Nets’ tried transfer from Lengthy Island to New Jersey infringed on their territorial rights, and the Nets sued and claimed the Knicks have been violating antitrust legal guidelines. The NBA and state of New Jersey settled the dispute, and the Nets paid the Knicks $4 million for the appropriate to maneuver.
