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There’s a relatively small pool of front-office employees in the NBA, and it’s only natural that franchises will target people working for other teams to gain a competitive edge. However, the Knicks apparently believed the Raptors went too far on that front after filing a massive lawsuit concerning some fairly explosive allegations.
I’m going to assume most people reading this aren’t familiar with Ikechukwu Azotam, who played college basketball at Quinnipiac University before landing a job in the NBA by working as an assistant in the internal video department for the New York Knicks between 2020 and 2023.
Earlier this year, Azotam caught the attention of the Toronto Raptors, who offered him a new gig he informed the Knicks he planned to accept prior to the start of the current season.
However, things took an interesting turn the day after Azotam’s time with the team officially came to an end in the middle of August, as New York claims it discovered he’d sent thousands of files concerning scouting, opposition research, and play frequency data Toronto’s way through the personal email account he allegedly used to perpetrate some corporate espionage.
The Knicks quickly filed a lawsuit against the Raptors in U.S. District Court, and the legal battle between the two sides continues to unfold.
According to ESPN, the Raptors filed a motion to dismiss the case on October 16th, but the Knicks have fired back by doubling down and asserting they’re owed at least $10 million in damages from a franchise they assert “directed Azotam’s actions and/or knowingly benefited from Azotam’s wrongful acts.”
New York has also pushed back against an attempt to have Adam Silver serve as an arbitrator in the case as opposed to letting it work its way through the court system, arguing Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum is a “close ally” of the commissioner due to his role on the NBA’s board of governors.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.