The New York Knicks filed a lawsuit against the Toronto Raptors, their new head coach, and a former Knicks scouting staffer, on Monday, August 21. The defendants had allegedly stolen hundreds of videos and other scouting secrets over the course of the previous weeks, SNY reported.
A Legal Repercussion
According to AP News, the Knicks are suing for an undisclosed amount of money and an injunction against future disclosure of their trade secrets in federal court in Manhattan. Legal action was taken when it was discovered that hundreds of Raptors workers had illegally copied allegedly confidential information.
"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.
The Knicks have accused the Raptors of committing a theft in the last several weeks after the Raptors hired and recruited "a mole" inside the Knicks organization. According to the complaint, he is Ikechukwu Azotam, and since August 2021, he has been in charge of the Knicks' video scouting operations.
They also accused recently hired Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, player development coach Noah Lewis, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Limited or MLSE (Raptors' parent company), and ten other unnamed Raptors employees of receiving propriety information and, on occasion, of directing Azotam to misuse his access to Knicks data.
The Raptors and its parent company later said they denied any participation in the events in question.
Sensitive Information Sent via Email
Madison Square Garden Sports or MSG Sports (Knicks' parent firm) released a statement saying it filed suit against Azotam because he carried thousands of confidential papers, including a season-by-season playbook for the 2022-2023 NBA season, to his new job with the Raptors.
Initially hired in October 2020 as an assistant video coordinator, the complaint claims that Azotam was then elevated to director of video analytics/player development assistant.
According to the complaint, the Raptors started courting Azotam in June in order to help their first-time head coach put together a new coaching and video operations team. In late July, Azotam informed the Knicks of his decision to leave.
The complaint claims that the theft was discovered by Knicks security on August 15, a day after his last day at work.
Azotam reportedly started converting and misappropriating the Knicks' sensitive and proprietary data in early August. Two emails were sent from his Knicks email account to his new Raptors email address on August 11 that included "proprietary information with highly confidential material."
One email included an in-depth scouting report on the Indiana Pacers, complete with player and team statistics, important plays and play frequency data, detailed scouting information on individual players, analysis of the club's strategy, and other details.
The second email featured a comparable sophisticated scouting report on the Denver Nuggets.
