Knicks and Raptors Drop 2023 Lawsuit—What Sparked the Sudden Truce?

When two NBA heavyweights like the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors decide to drop a lawsuit that blasted into headlines last year, you’ve got to sit up and take notice. Now, most people around the league scratched their heads over this whole kerfuffle from the start — many whispered it shouldn’t have seen the light of day. At the heart of it? The Knicks were chasing $10 million in damages, accusing the Raptors of pilfering a treasure trove of proprietary info after snatching away their top video and analytics guru, Ikechukwu Azotam. Then throw rookie Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic into the mix — a guy with a legit résumé but who, according to New York, “borrowed” way too much from the Knicks’ playbook. Toronto pushed back hard, waving the NBA’s constitution in everyone’s face and saying this spat ain’t for the courts but for Commissioner Adam Silver to handle. But with old tensions simmering between Dolan and Silver, the whole thing became a mess nobody won. And so, as sudden as it arrived, the noise just fizzled out—both parties shaking hands (well, figuratively) and focusing on what’s next instead. Want to dig deeper into this saga? LEARN MORE

The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have mutually and voluntarily decided to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2023, which most people around the league thought should never have been filed, a story broken by Baxter Holmes for ESPN. A spokesperson for the teams gave ESPN this statement:

“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.”

The lawsuit was over something seen as commonplace in NBA circles (sources who had been in similar jobs told NBC Sports at the time that this was no big deal and the suit seemed “very James Dolan”). New York was seeking $10 million in damages from Toronto for the alleged “theft of trade secrets” when the Raptors hired away New York’s director of video/analytics/and a player development assistant coach, Ikechukwu Azotam. In the suit, the Knicks alleged that the Raptors organization — at the behest of rookie head coach Darko Rajakovic — took more than 3,000 confidential, proprietary files, including video scouting files and play frequency numbers. Part of the Knicks’ argument was that Rajakovic didn’t have the depth of background to build a team structure, so he stole that from New York. That despite the fact that Rajakovic had been a legendary head coach in Serbia, was head coach of the Tulsa 66ers of the G-League, and was an assistant known for player development with the Thunder, Suns and Grizzlies.

Toronto’s first counterargument was that this had to be decided by the NBA league office and commissioner Adam Silver, not the courts. Toronto reached out to the NBA’s general council and pointed out that the NBA’s constitution (Article 24, bylaw “D”) states: “The Commissioner shall have exclusive, full, complete, and final jurisdiction of any dispute involving two (2) or more Members of the Association.” Dolan, who has had a long-running feud with Silver, did not feel the commissioner would be an unbiased arbiter of the situation.

In the end, both sides just decided to drop the issue and move on.