Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Strickland, who filed a lawsuit against Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri following an altercation at the end of Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, has dropped that suit, as Lisa Fernandez of KTVU FOX 2 reports.
Near the end of the Raptors’ Finals-clinching win in Oakland, Ujiri attempted to get onto the court for the celebration and was stopped by Strickland, who claimed that Ujiri didn’t have the proper credentials and that the Raptors president assaulted him. Body-camera footage released later showed Ujiri attempting to present his credentials and Strickland shoving him twice before Ujiri shoved back in retaliation.
“Masai has been completely vindicated, as we always knew he would be,” Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, the Raptors’ ownership group, said in a statement (link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). “… We continue to be deeply troubled by the fact that Masai was put in this position in the first plae, and believe he should never have had to defend himself. Masai is taking some time to process the ordeal, and intends to address it publicly at a later date.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- After getting off to a slow start this season, Norman Powell is on a roll lately, averaging 23.4 PPG on .507/.475/.872 shooting in nine games since entering the starting lineup on January 22. As Blake Murphy of The Athletic writes, Powell’s success will create some challenging decisions for the team in the short term – whether he’ll continue starting when OG Anunoby returns – and in the long term, since Powell can reach unrestricted free agency this summer.
- The Raptors 905 – Toronto’s G League affiliate – received NBAGL Franchise of the Year honors for the 2019/20 season, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Per the announcement, the club was recognized not only for its play on the court, but its “excellent behind-the-scenes work” and activity in the community. “We said when Raptors 905 started that we intended to make this the best franchise in the G League, and we are really proud that we’ve been recognized for that,” Ujiri said in a statement.
- While Aron Baynes and DeAndre’ Bembry became trade-eligible last weekend, a handful of Raptors players still can’t be dealt. Paul Watson‘s trade restrictions will lift on February 25, while Chris Boucher and Fred VanVleet will be ineligible to be moved until March 3.
That security guard trying to use his other Job title to win a Lawsuit against a multi-millionaire is a black eye to police, the warriors, & the statutory governance, & enforcement arm of the Cal “justice” (laughable) system.
If I was the wealthy Warriors owners I’d have bribed the security guard to shut up & stop embarrassing them. Good grief people are pathetic. I’m not even a Masai fan, but to pretend you don’t know he is the Raptors GM in that moment with an entire arena telling you so is really sad it went this far.
Some folks are just racist & obsessed with people at the same time…
Too many sad individuals!
Umm … Powell is a guard and not a particularly big one. O.G. is a 6’7 forward. I’m really unclear as to why they’re gonna conflict for playing time.
The Raptors start two point guards, so Powell plays small forward alongside them and replaced Anunoby in the starting lineup when OG got hurt.
I still think they should have let someone else pay FVV, although he has been significantly better this year.