Baxter Holmes, ESPN Senior Scribbler
In a sternly worded court docket submitting Monday, the Raptors are looking for to push aside the Knicks‘ contemporary lawsuit towards them for allegedly conspiring to scouse borrow hundreds of mysterious scouting recordsdata, calling it “baseless” and a “public relations stunt” via the Knicks, consistent with a book of the submitting acquired via ESPN.
Additional, the Raptors requested for NBA commissioner Adam Silver to adjudicate the dispute between the 2 Atlantic Section competitors, with a legal professional for Raptors proprietor Maple Leaf Sports activities and Leisure writing that the lawsuit “has no business wasting judicial resources given the all-encompassing arbitration clause in the parties’ governing agreement.”
In August, the Knicks sued the Raptors, individuals of the Toronto group and a former Knicks worker whom they alleged “illegally procured and then disclosed proprietary information” to the Raptors.
Within the lawsuit, which used to be filed within the U.S. District Court docket in Ny, the Knicks accused Ikechukwu Azotam, who labored for the Knicks from 2020 to 2023, of sending the Raptors hundreds of mysterious recordsdata — together with play games frequency stories, a prep accumulation for the 2022-23 season, video scouting recordsdata, opposition analysis and extra — later the crew started recruiting him to tie their group in summer time 2023.
The Knicks accused Azotam — who labored for the Knicks as an associate video coordinator, after as a director of video/analytics/participant building associate — of violating a confidentiality clause in an operate pledge and alleged that individuals of the Raptors “directed Azotam’s actions and/or knowingly benefited from Azotam’s wrongful acts.”
In Monday’s submitting, the Raptors’ legal professional wrote: “The Knicks’ conduct from the outset of this dispute leaves no doubt that their goal has been to elicit negative press attention against the Named Defendants rather than the pursuit of valid claims.”
The Raptors’ legal professional additionally wrote that the allegations had been “false and overblown” and that the “alleged ‘theft of data’ involved little more than publicly available information compiled through public sources readily accessible to all NBA Members.”
Monday’s submitting endured, “These were not the Knicks’ team and player statistics, play frequency data, player tendencies or play calls, but rather those of other NBA teams — including particularly the Raptors’ own game film — compiled from video of their games accessible to all NBA teams (and, indeed, the general public). In other words, they were far from confidential, let alone trade secrets. The Knicks surely know this.”
An MSG spokesperson issued please see remark to ESPN on Monday: “As we have previously stated, given the theft of proprietary and confidential files and clear violation of criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this to federal court and are confident the judicial system will agree.”
All the way through Raptors media occasion Oct. 2, Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed the lawsuit, pronouncing, “There has been one time a team has sued a team in the NBA. One time. Go figure.”
Raptors head educator Darko Rajaković additionally addressed the lawsuit right through the crew’s media occasion, pronouncing, “I was surprised. I was shocked. I did not know where it was coming from.
He continued, “What I will say is, I do know who I’m. I understand how my folks raised me. I do know what I see each and every unmarried occasion once I glance within the reflect. I do know that there’s not anything that I must be anxious about. And I can’t look forward to this lawsuit to be over so everyone can to find the reality.”
