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The Toronto Raptors filed a motion to dismiss the “baseless” New York Knicks lawsuit alleging them of “trade secret theft.”
They labeled the Knicks move as merely a “public relations stunt.”
“The Knicks’ conduct from the outset of this dispute leaves no doubt that their goal has been to elicit negative press attention against the Named Defendants rather than the pursuit of valid claims,” the Raptors said in their sternly worded court filing on Monday.
For the Raptors, the path forward to a quick resolution of the case should have been under NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and not the federal court, which is tedious and takes time. They declared in the court filing that the Knicks’ lawsuit “has no business wasting judicial resources given the all-encompassing arbitration clause in the parties’ governing agreement.”
Silver has withheld commenting on the case until it lands on his desk.
In August, the Knicks filed the lawsuit against the Raptors, Knicks former employee Ike Azotam, and some members of the organization led by new head coach Darko Rajaković.
The lawsuit claims that Rajaković, a first-time head coach, and the other Raptors defendants “conspired to use Azotam’s position as a current Knicks insider to funnel proprietary information to the Raptors to help them organize, plan, and structure the new coaching and video operations staff.”
According to the lawsuit, they have also directed Azotam to misuse his access to the Knicks’ subscription to Synergy Sports to create and then transfer to the Raptors defendants over 3,000 files consisting of film information and data.
The Raptors disputed that those pieces of information are publicly available information any NBA team could obtain.
Masai Ujiri, Darko Rajaković Respond to Knicks Lawsuit
Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed the Knicks’ lawsuit with a terse response.
“There has been one time a team has sued a team in the NBA. One time. Go figure,” Ujiri told reporters during Raptors media day.
Rajaković was shocked, but he is adamant that he did nothing wrong.
“I was surprised,” Rajaković told reporters during Raptors media day. “I was shocked.”
“I did not know where it was coming from. Obviously, the lawsuit is ongoing. I cannot make too many comments on it,” he added.
“What I can say is I know who I am. I know how my parents raised me. I know what I see every single day when I look in the mirror. I know that there is nothing that I should be worried about. And I cannot wait for this lawsuit to be over so everybody can find the truth,” he continued.
Knicks’ Reaction to Raptors’ Push for Dismissal
The Knicks were unnerved by the Raptors’ countermove, firmly believing they were wronged.
“As we have previously stated, given the theft of proprietary and confidential files and a clear violation of criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this to federal court and are confident the judicial system will agree,” the spokesperson said in a statement via New York Post.
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