TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors have requested the dismissal of the New York Knicks’ lawsuit against them.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), the owners of the Raptors, filed a motion for dismissal in New York’s Southern District on Monday. MLSE filed the legal documents on behalf of the NBA club, head coach Darko Rajakovic, and 12 other defendants.
The legal documents state that MLSE is asking the court to either submit the matter to an arbiter, dismiss the lawsuit, or stay the legal proceedings until the proposed arbitration is resolved.
“This baseless lawsuit is a mere publicity stunt by the Knicks,” reads the preliminary statement of the filing. “It is unnecessary to waste judicial resources considering the all-encompassing arbitration clause in the parties’ governing agreement.
“Unless the Knicks change their stance and accept the jurisdiction of the NBA Commissioner, as the parties agreed, they have chosen a forum that will likely not even begin substantive proceedings until after the upcoming NBA season ends, with the dispute not being fully resolved until at least 2025.”
Related Videos
MLSE and the Raptors’ spokespeople declined to comment on this new motion or the lawsuit itself.
The Knicks filed a lawsuit against the Raptors, Rajakovic, and former Knicks scouting employee Ikechukwu Azotam on August 22, alleging a conspiracy to steal thousands of videos and other scouting secrets during July and August.
The Knicks are seeking unspecified damages and a ban on the further dissemination of their trade secrets.
They claim that their intellectual property, including scouting and play frequency reports, a prep book, and valuable software, has been downloaded by Raptors employees thousands of times.
The lawsuit identified Azotam as the alleged source of the leak. Since August 2021, Azotam had been responsible for the planning, organization, and distribution of video scouting for the Knicks’ coaching staff.
The Knicks allege that Rajakovic, who was hired as Toronto’s new head coach in June, player development coach Noah Lewis, and 10 unidentified Raptors employees received and used proprietary information provided by Azotam.
Trending Now
-
![]()
The search continues for a $64M Lotto 6/49 ticket holder. Time is running out
-
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
