Almost two months after the release of this funny affair, the Raptors finally decided to counterattack, by filing an appeal so that the Knicks’ complaint against them will be dropped.
As a reminder, New York accuses a former assistant, Ike Azotam, of having joined Toronto and its new coach, Darko Rajakovic, this summer by taking confidential information. According to the complaint, the Knicks’ former head of video and player development allegedly stole “scouting reports, including frequency of use of gaming systems, a preparation book and a link to third-party licensed software”.
The Canadian franchise’s lawyers are asking Adam Silver to intervene and mediate in this matter, NBA clubs generally settling this type of dispute without going to court.
A simple “media stunt” from the Knicks?
“There is no reason to waste judicial resources on a trial, given the arbitration clause that exists in the collective agreement”explain the Raptors, who assure that the lawsuit filed by the Knicks is in fact simply a “media stunt”. “The Knicks’ conduct since the inception of this litigation leaves no doubt that their primary goal was to generate negative press attention for the named defendants rather than pursue valid claims.” they write again.
Especially since the famous stolen data is not really strategic information…
“This alleged data theft involved little more than public information compiled from public sources readily available to all members of the NBA” complete the lawyers of the Canadian club, who therefore assure that Ike Azotam’s wrong would therefore simply be to have compiled this data with his access to the Knicks, instead of waiting to have the same access to the Raptors.
Even if we know that James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, is very litigious, this complaint is surprising, but a spokesperson for Madison Square Garden repeats that the franchise is within its rights: “As we have previously stated, given the theft of proprietary and confidential files and the clear violation of criminal and civil law, we had no choice but to take the matter to federal court and we we are convinced that the judicial system will prove us right” he concludes.
