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The New York Knicks are suing the Toronto Raptors and members within their organization, which includes a former Knicks employee, who they saw "illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to his new position."
New head coach Darko Rajaković was also named in the lawsuit.
"This material consists of secret, proprietary information critical to the Knicks’ efforts to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals, including the Raptors," the lawsuit stated.
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The New York Knicks logo is seen as players from the bench watch the first quarter of the NBA game against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on April 03, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks "unspecified damages" and a ban on further spread of Knicks trade secrets.
New York claimed that the theft of "proprietary information," which included scouting and play frequency reports, as well as videos and scouting secreting, have been stolen from the Knicks in the past few weeks.
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Ikechukwu Azotam is the former Knicks employee named in the lawsuit. He worked within the Knicks’ organization since August 2021, where he directed "planning, organizing and distribution of all video scouting responsibilities" for the coaching staff.
The Knicks accuse the Raptors of using Azotam to access the Knicks’ information and misuse it. The lawsuit also claims that he took a 2022-2023 season prep book for the Knicks with him to the Raptors.
The Raptors and its parent company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Limited, "strongly denies any involvement in the matters alleged," they said in a statement.
Toronto Raptors team logo on the floor during the Toronto Raptors vs Cleveland Cavaliers NBA regular season game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (Anatoliy Cherkasov/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
"MLSE responded promptly, making clear our intention to conduct an internal investigation and to fully cooperate," the statement read.
Azotam told the Knicks he would be leaving for the Raptors in late July, with his final day on Aug. 14. Before leaving, the Knicks claim in the lawsuit that Azotam illegally converted "highly confidential" data of the team and sent two emails from his active Knicks address it to his new Raptors email.
One email allegedly included an advanced scouting report of the Indiana Pacers players, while the other email had a similar report to the Denver Nuggets.
A detail is pictured of the New York Knicks uniform and New York Knicks logo during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on March 27, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
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The lawsuit adds that the Raptors accessed the files over 2,000 times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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