The New York Knicks put a price this week on the lawsuit they filed against the Toronto Raptors this summer, demanding more than $10 million in damages and escalating a war of words with their rival. the Eastern Conference regarding a former Knicks employee who allegedly shared exclusive scouting information with the Raptors after the team hired him in August.
In a court filing Monday, the Knicks pulled back the curtain for a rare glimpse of discord over NBA governance, refuting the Raptors’ insistence that the matter be tried behind closed doors by the NBA commissioner due to an alleged conflict of interest in the structure of the league.
The Knicks argued that commissioner Adam Silver was actually an employee of Larry Tanenbaum, the minority owner of the Raptors’ parent company. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, who chairs the NBA Board of Governors. According to the filing, “Tanenbaum and Silver also have a close relationship.”
Story continues below advertisement
Tanenbaum, president of MLSE and its most recognizable public face, was first elected chairman of the NBA Board of Governors in 2017 and re-elected last year.
The dispute arose after the Raptors’ new head coach, Darko Rajakovic, hired Ikechukwu (Ike) Azotam, the Knicks’ director of video, analytics and player development, in July. The Knicks alleged that Rajakovic and other members of the Raptors organization “conspired to use Azotam’s position as a current Knicks insider to pass proprietary information to the Raptors to help them organize, plan and structure the new training and video operations staff.”
The complaint alleges that after Azotam was hired by the Raptors and before leaving the Knicks, he acted as a “mole” under Rajakovic’s direction, transmitting a series of confidential Knicks documents from the address team email, “including scouting reports, play frequency data, opposition research, opposing play trends, opponents’ key play lists and charts, and Knicks playbook” for the season 2022-23.
Introducing their new coach, the Raptors played like VE Day
He also allegedly shared with Raptors staff a connection to a video service containing thousands of video clips, including analyzes of Raptors players.
Story continues below advertisement
But in a filing last month, the Raptors called the allegations of intellectual property theft “false and exaggerated” and the lawsuit “baseless” and a “PR stunt.” The filing adds that even if the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that this was the proper venue for such a case, the court would likely not even begin hearing arguments until after the conclusion of the NBA season in course “and The conflict will not finally be resolved until 2025 at the earliest.”
In scathing language, the Raptors said the Knicks had “misrepresented the facts to defame” the team and individual defendants, adding that “not only are the records at issue not trade secrets, they are in fact accessible to every NBA team.”
The filing added that “the evidence will show that the ‘playbook’ that the Knicks accused Mr. Azotam of stealing was nothing more than a schedule from the previous 2022-23 NBA season with scouting assignments that Mr. Azotam wanted to use as a template for the 2023-24 season, there is virtually nothing worth complaining about, much less filing a federal lawsuit.
The Raptors also indicated that when the Knicks first contacted them shortly after Azotam changed jobs, they offered to cooperate and were surprised when the Knicks filed a lawsuit a few days later .
Story continues below advertisement
They argued that the matter would be better left to the NBA family and arbitrated under the auspices of the league’s constitution, saying “lawsuits between members of the same sports league are virtually unheard of.” Indeed, leagues like the NBA adopt constitutions that give their commissioners the exclusive, complete, final and binding power to resolve disputes between members. They are among the most comprehensive arbitration clauses in the world. Such broad authority is justified by a commissioner’s superior knowledge of league history and practices, by his or her unique ability to discern the impact of alleged misconduct on team competition, and by the means to rule quickly and efficiently, as well as by the leagues’ typical desire to keep internal matters confidential. .”
In their Monday filing, the Knicks called the Raptors’ defense “garish” and added that Silver himself deferred to the court’s jurisdiction when MLSE asked him twice in September for his opinion, after filing the complaint.
“None of the underlying issues have anything to do with the NBA’s constitution and bylaws, which cover topics such as the rules of the game, protesting game results, membership in “organization and relocation of teams. No provision in the NBA Constitution specifically addresses the theft of intellectual property, nor the protection of a team’s intellectual property more broadly,” the team wrote.
The Knicks also argued that Silver “is conflicted” and that although the NBA constitution describes how the league’s board of governors is supposed to elect its president, Tanenbaum’s “elections were performative.” It is the NBA – led by Commissioner Silver – that selects the candidate for president, a selection that is submitted by the league to the board of governors without an opposing candidate, leaving the governors with no other option.
Story continues below advertisement
The filing added that “Tanenbaum was described as “a close ally of Commissioner Adam Silver.” Silver himself described Tanenbaum as “not only my boss as chairman of the board of governors, but he is truly a role model in my life.” If Silver were to preside over the current conflict, he would be arbitrating a case for his boss and ally.
On Tuesday, MLSE spokesman Dave Haggith said the company declined to comment.
