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The Knicks accused their former video,
analytics and player-development assistant Ikechukwu Azotam, who
left the team last week, of stealing thousands of proprietary
files and forwarding them to the Raptors.
Representatives for the Raptors did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
A spokesperson for the Knicks' parent company MSG Sports said
that "given the clear violation of our employment agreement,
criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this
action."
The Raptors hired Darko Rajakovic, previously an assistant coach
with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, as their head coach in June.
"As a first time NBA head coach, Defendant Rajakovic would be
expected to bring his own organizational structure and coaching
method," said the Knicks' lawsuit, which names Rajakovic, Azotam
and several unidentified Raptors employees as defendants.
"Apparently, given his non-traditional path to his head coaching
job, Defendant Rajakovic did not have his own, so he chose to
exploit the Knicks' methods," it said.
The Knicks first hired Azotam as a video coordinator in 2020.
The lawsuit said Azotam was recruited by the Raptors starting in
June and told the Knicks he had received a job offer from them
in late July.
According to the lawsuit, Azotam began sending confidential
information to the Raptors around the same time, including
details about the Knicks' organizational structure, reports on
opponents' plays and tendencies, and game films edited by its
scouting team.
The Knicks requested an unspecified amount of damages and asked
the court to permanently block the Raptors and Azotam from
misusing their trade secrets.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington, Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Rosalba O'Brien)
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