Raptors and Knicks settle long-standing lawsuit

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The off-court battle between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks is finally over.

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Both teams agreed to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Knicks in 2023 alleging the theft of thousands of confidential files by a former employee hired by the Raptors. ESPN was first reported Friday.

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“Knicks and [Raptors owner] Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment withdrew its claims and the matter is resolved. “The parties are focused on the future,” representatives of both teams told ESPN.

The voluntary dismissal came more than two years after the 2023 lawsuit was filed. At the time, Toronto insisted it had no basis, while the Knicks argued it did.

New York has sought more than $10 million in damages in the case, alleging that Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked on the team from 2020 to 2023, primarily working on video and analytics, brought thousands of confidential files with him after he was hired by Toronto. The Knicks argued that the files gave them a competitive advantage.

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The Knicks named then-Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic in the lawsuit, as well as player development coach Noah Lewis and 10 “unidentified” employees as defendants.

The case was referred to July arbitration back in March, but there have been no updates since then. The referee was to be NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. In June 2024, U.S. District Judge Jessica Clark ruled that Silver should resolve this issue not the courts.

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The Raptors called the allegations “baseless” and a “PR stunt” and said the allegedly stolen data was taken from publicly available sources.

Toronto initially asked Silver to settle, but New York resisted the idea throughout the process, saying Silver could not do so fairly because Raptors co-owner Larry Tanenbaum is chairman of the NBA's board of governors.

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The Knicks told ESPN following the decision last summer: “We are (allegedly) the victim of theft of proprietary and confidential files, which is a clear violation of criminal and civil law,” the statement said. “We do not believe it is appropriate for the NBA commissioner to rule on a matter that concerns his boss, the chairman of the NBA and his team.”

They vowed to continue to explore further legal options and told ESPN they remain “skeptical about this process as the NBA has consistently demonstrated that it has no desire to fight this egregious theft of confidential information, likely because the NBA Chairman is the defendant.”

The Raptors told ESPN last summer: “The Raptors and (Raptors owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) are pleased that the court has agreed that this matter should be resolved by the NBA, which we maintain is the appropriate forum for disputes of this nature. We hope this brings this matter closer to resolution.”

It took a while, but now it is.

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