The long-standing legal dispute between Atlantic Division rivals, the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks, has officially come to an end, as both organizations have agreed to drop the lawsuit that dates back to 2023.
In August 2023, the Knicks filed a lawsuit against the Raptors, accusing the organization of illegally poaching Ikechukwu Azotam, a former Knicks staffer who served on their coaching and video coordination team from 2020 to 2023. According to the lawsuit, Azotam provided the Raptors with proprietary information about the Knicks’ internal operations, including scouting reports, playbooks, and other sensitive materials related to the 2022–23 NBA season. The Knicks were seeking over $10 million in damages.
Toronto, for its part, had pursued Azotam following the conclusion of his tenure in New York, but the Knicks claimed that the Raptors’ intent was to gain an unfair competitive edge.
The lawsuit named several individuals as defendants, including Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković, assistant video coordinator Noah Lewis, and Azotam himself, along with ten unnamed employees. Toronto strongly denied the allegations at the time, dismissing the claims as “a public relations stunt.”
Now, more than two years after the lawsuit was filed, both organizations have decided to resolve the matter privately. The case has been dismissed following a mutual agreement between the teams’ ownership groups, with both sides withdrawing their claims.
