RealGM

That complaint accused former Knicks employee Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked for the Knicks from 2020 to 2023, of sending the Raptors thousands of confidential files -- including play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files, opposition research and more -- after the team began recruiting him to join their organization in summer 2023.

Raptors coach Darko Rajaković, player development coach Noah Lewis and 10 "unknown" Raptors employees were also listed as defendants in the Knicks' lawsuit.

During Raptors media day Oct. 2, Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed the lawsuit, saying, "There has been one time a team has sued a team in the NBA. One time. Go figure."

In an Oct. 16 filing, the Raptors called the Knicks' lawsuit "baseless" and a "public relations stunt" while also calling for Silver to arbitrate the dispute. The Raptors have made that request multiple times dating back to August.

"Contrary to Defendants' claims, this is not a dispute about basketball operations," the Knicks wrote. "There is no nexus between the claims and the NBA Constitution -- it is a dispute about the theft of trade secrets by a disloyal employee, a scenario not contemplated by the NBA Constitution. Trade secret misappropriation, breaches of contract, and tort claims are the types of issues routinely appearing before federal judges.

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

iLLmatic860 wrote:

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

How do you expect him to share data from other teams if he previously worked for the Knicks?

dockingsched wrote:

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

Eh, that just happened to be the team that the guy they hired worked for and had access to their data. Could’ve been any team.

shrink wrote:

dockingsched wrote:

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

Eh, that just happened to be the team that the guy they hired worked for and had access to their data. Could’ve been any team.

What he’s saying is whether the Knicks secret files are worth $10 mil.

Now Spoelstra’s iPad, on the other hand …?

payton2kemp wrote:

iLLmatic860 wrote:

TGW wrote:Why would the Raptors care about the inner workings of the Knicks? That's a weird team to "steal" anything from and risk repercussions.

How do you expect him to share data from other teams if he previously worked for the Knicks?

I mean seems quite frivolous, your whole experience is taking knowledge from your previous job to your next job. Unles he signed some type of NDA's they can show or they have some plays that are 'patented' lol.

Pretty sure Thibs is using his playbook from the Bulls.

MoneyTalks41890 wrote:

payton2kemp wrote:

iLLmatic860 wrote:How do you expect him to share data from other teams if he previously worked for the Knicks?

I mean seems quite frivolous, your whole experience is taking knowledge from your previous job to your next job. Unles he signed some type of NDA's they can show or they have some plays that are 'patented' lol.

Pretty sure Thibs is using his playbook from the Bulls.

You actually can’t take your employer’s intellectual property and give it to a competitor. Pretty fundamental stuff.

Dr Aki wrote:https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/38946152/knicks-seek-10-million-damages-raptors-say-adam-silver-arbitrate-dispute

That complaint accused former Knicks employee Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked for the Knicks from 2020 to 2023, of sending the Raptors thousands of confidential files -- including play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files, opposition research and more -- after the team began recruiting him to join their organization in summer 2023.

Raptors coach Darko Rajaković, player development coach Noah Lewis and 10 "unknown" Raptors employees were also listed as defendants in the Knicks' lawsuit.

During Raptors media day Oct. 2, Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed the lawsuit, saying, "There has been one time a team has sued a team in the NBA. One time. Go figure."

In an Oct. 16 filing, the Raptors called the Knicks' lawsuit "baseless" and a "public relations stunt" while also calling for Silver to arbitrate the dispute. The Raptors have made that request multiple times dating back to August.

"Contrary to Defendants' claims, this is not a dispute about basketball operations," the Knicks wrote. "There is no nexus between the claims and the NBA Constitution -- it is a dispute about the theft of trade secrets by a disloyal employee, a scenario not contemplated by the NBA Constitution. Trade secret misappropriation, breaches of contract, and tort claims are the types of issues routinely appearing before federal judges.

MoneyTalks41890 wrote:

payton2kemp wrote:

iLLmatic860 wrote:How do you expect him to share data from other teams if he previously worked for the Knicks?

I mean seems quite frivolous, your whole experience is taking knowledge from your previous job to your next job. Unles he signed some type of NDA's they can show or they have some plays that are 'patented' lol.

Pretty sure Thibs is using his playbook from the Bulls.

You actually can’t take your employer’s intellectual property and give it to a competitor. Pretty fundamental stuff.

MoneyTalks41890 wrote:I’m surprised that these kinds of suits aren’t barred by the agreements between teams and the league. But that might be what that excerpt is about, that they are barred if they fall under the “NBA constitution” but the Knicks are trying to circumvent that by making it about IP theft.