The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors agreed to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit alleging the Raptors stole thousands of confidential files from the Knicks, according to a court filing obtained by ESPN. The teams dismissed the suit with prejudice, permanently ending the legal dispute. The case was initially set to be settled this summer, nearly two years after the Knicks filed the suit in August 2023.
“The Knicks and [Raptors owner] Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment withdrew their respective claims and the matter is resolved,” team spokespersons said to ESPN. “The Parties are focused on the future.”
The Knicks alleged in the 2023 lawsuit that the Raptors recruited Ikechukwu Azotam — who worked as the Knicks’ assistant video coordinator — and ordered him to send them confidential material including play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files and opposition research. The team sought $10 million in damages.
Knicks offense already looks more dynamic under Mike Brown, which could make Jalen Brunson’s life a lot easier
Colin Ward-Henninger
The Knicks alleged that the Raptors, who had recently hired coach Darko Rajaković, “conspired to use Azotam’s position as a current Knicks insider to funnel proprietary information to the Raptors to help them organize, plan, and structure the new coaching and video operations staff.”
The Raptors in October 2023 filed a motion to dismiss, argued that the claims were “baseless” and said the information was publicly available to all NBA members. They asked NBA commissioner Adam Silver to step in, and a U.S. District Court judge ruled last year, to the Knicks’ chagrin, that Silver should resolve the dispute. He was set to oversee the settlement in an arbitration meeting in July.
It is a rare occurrence for NBA teams to sue one another. The only other known case came in 1977 when the Knicks were involved in a dispute with the Nets. They claimed that the Nets’ attempted move from Long Island to New Jersey infringed on their territorial rights, and the Nets sued and claimed the Knicks were violating antitrust laws. The NBA and state of New Jersey settled the dispute, and the Nets paid the Knicks $4 million for the right to move.