The off-the-court battle between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks is finally over.
The two teams agreed to voluntarily dismiss a 2023 lawsuit the Knicks had brought alleging theft of thousands of confidential files by an ex-employee who was hired by the Raptors, ESPN first reported Friday.
“The Knicks and [Raptors owner] Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment withdrew their respective claims and the matter is resolved. The Parties are focused on the future,” spokespeople for both teams told ESPN in statements.
The voluntary dismissal came more than two years after the filing of the suit in 2023. In that time Toronto had insisted it had no merit, while the Knicks professed it did.
New York had sought more than $10 million in damages in the case, alleging that Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked for the team from 2020-2023, largely in a video and analytics capacity, had brought with him thousands of confidential files after being hired away by Toronto. The Knicks alleged the files gave them a competitive advantage.
The Knicks had named then incoming Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic in the suit, along with player development coach Noah Lewis and 10 “unknown” employees who were listed as defendants.
The case had been ordered for a July arbitration back in March, but there had been no update since. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was supposed to serve as arbitrator. In June of 2024, U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke ruled that Silver should decide the matter rather than the courts.
The Raptors had called the allegations “baseless” and a “public relations stunt” and had said the data allegedly stolen was from publicly available sources.
Toronto initially had asked Silver to settle the dispute, but New York fought that idea throughout the process, saying Silver could not do that fairly because Raptors co-owner Larry Tanenbaum is the chair of the NBA’s board of governors.
The Knicks told ESPN after the decision last summer: “We (allegedly) were the victim of a theft of proprietary and confidential files in a clear violation of criminal and civil law,” the statement said. “We don’t think it’s appropriate for the commissioner of the NBA to rule on a matter involving his boss, the chairman of the NBA, and his team.”
They vowed to continue to look into further legal options and had told ESPN they remained “skeptical of this process as the NBA has consistently demonstrated that it has no desire to address this blatant theft of proprietary information, likely because the chairman of the NBA is the defendant.”
The Raptors told ESPN in a statement last summer: “The Raptors and (Raptors owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) are pleased that the court agreed this should be resolved by the NBA, which we have maintained is the correct forum for disputes of this nature. We hope this brings this matter closer to a resolution.”
It took a while, but that’s now the case.