Knicks seek $10M+ in damages from Raptors

[Dr Aki]

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.

[TGW]

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

[dockingsched]

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.

[MoneyTalks41890]

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.

[iLLmatic860]

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?

[jbsays]

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

And why would the Knicks send a Trojan Horse to the Raptors to rip them apart from within?

[payton2kemp]

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.

[shrink]

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 …?

[itrsteve]

Do you steal secrets from the Knicks to know what not to do?

Not sure if that has a street value of $10m

[Onlytimewilltel]

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 …?

Perhaps,,, if converted into a “What NOT to do” manual

[JayMKE]

What did the Raptors give this guy in return? Starts being a problem if the guy was actually compensated

[right between the eyes]

Dolan clearly still butthurt from the Bargnani trade lmao.

[MoneyTalks41890]

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.

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

[Wargreymon]

Stealing and implementing the knicks secrets would explain why we suck now.

[uraverage]

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.

Yep business 101...logged on to and1 this..

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

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.

Knicks were 1-3 against the raptors last year. Turns out it didn't matter too much but if you think it gave an unfair advantage and it costs you HCA or a chance to advance, the millions can add up quickly.

[Godaddycurse]

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.

Are players allowed to share playbooks and info once they changed teams?

[Zeno]

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.

Yes, Raptors filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the matter as falling under the NBA constitution and the Adam Silver should be arbitrator. This is the Knicks response to the request.

[ForeverTFC]

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[Quattro]

I like the part where they accused the Commissioner of the NBA of being biased.