The Knicks have responded to a motion filed by the Raptors that sought to dismiss New York’s lawsuit against them, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reports. The Knicks are seeking more than $10MM in their lawsuit and have also dragged commissioner Adam Silver’s name into the dispute between the Atlantic Division clubs.
The Knicks argued that the court system should handle the matter, rather than the NBA, because of Silver’s allegedly tight relationship with Toronto minority owner Larry Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum is currently the NBA’s Chairman of the Board of Governors.
The Knicks wrote in their 24-page response on Monday, “Silver himself described Tanenbaum as ‘not just my boss as the chairman of the Board of Governors, but he’s very much a role model in my life. If Silver were to preside over the instant dispute, he would be arbitrating a case for his boss and ally,” ESPN’s Baxter Holmes tweets.
The Knicks also inferred that Tanenbaum was handpicked by Silver as Chairman, Bondy adds.
The lawsuit stems from their allegations that Ikechukwu Azotam, a former Knicks video coordinator, stole scouting and analytics secrets – including files containing “over 3,000 videos” – and gave them to the Raptors after he was hired by their organization. Azotam and Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic were also named in the suit.
In the motion to dismiss, Toronto called the lawsuit “baseless” and “a public relations stunt” by the Knicks. The Raptors also wrote that the dispute should be handled by Silver instead of a federal judge, pursuant to a bylaw in the NBA’s constitution that reads, “The Commissioner shall have exclusive, full, complete, and final jurisdiction of any dispute involving two (2) or more Members of the Association.”
The Knicks also claim that since their damages exceed $10MM, which is more than NBA can penalize a team, the courts should handle the case rather than the league office, Mike Vornukov of The Athetic tweets.
Pay up …….
You guys are just being sassy since we wouldn’t trade you OG last year for those 3 highly protected picks
Personally RJ is a better version of OG to me. The person did steal information and used it as a Raptors executive. He was caught with computer files. That belonged to the Knicks. NYers don’t care about Dolan. We care about our Knicks.
I can see the lawyer saying that to Dolan after losing the case…
This case goin to federal courts is a ridiculous waste of money when house in Toronto cost 10 million and medicine costs 10 million in New York, who on earth would want the Knicks scouting?
What are the Knicks thinking here? Good lord, learn to pick your battles
NY Knicks gonna knick. Is this their way of trying to remain/stay relevant? HTF. Dolan is probably just mad about Bargniani (sp?) still.
Too many pucks to the head ……
Look up the word relevant ….. it describes everything you are not.
Lol the Knicks been irrelevant and mid at best for 20+ years pal.
Try living in the present PAL. It works better ……. Thibs Era is Real.
“Thibs era is real”
when you’re this pumped about being 2 games over .500 and not making it past the first round it says a lot
This is how “relevant” the Knicks have been these past 20 years… LMAO!
The New York Knicks have a record of 657-943 between November 18, 2003 and November 18, 2023.
A Raptors fan trying to flame. The only History they got. Is players leaving to play somewhere else. Kawhi got you a ring. Then couldn’t leave fast enough. You better make a statue of the Ring. Cause it’s the only one Toronto will ever see.
Get REAL history lol
As of the end of the 2021–22 season, New York has won more than 2,900 regular season games, and the team has the fourth-highest victory total in NBA history.
Knicks have been to 8 NBA finals. We took over after Celtics owned the Lakers. Not the Lakers. Get knowledge.
One of the original NBA teams. We showed the world how to play ball.
75 seasons ——-
39 playoff appearances ——-
8 Finals appearances ——-
2 Championships ———
New York Knicks regular season record (1946–present) 2,924 — 3,099 (.485%)
And even when we sucked like Raptors have done for most of their life . We are and have always been. The richest and most valued basketball team in the World.
Location: Toronto, Canada.
Team Name: Toronto Raptors.
Seasons: 29; 1995-96 to 2023-24.
Record: 1077-1164, .481 W-L%
Playoff Appearances: 14.
Championships: 1.
Dolan days in the NBA are numbered
Raptors should counter sue for Defamation.
This is a classic example of frivolous lawsuit
This has to be right up the on the Dolan being Dolan chart…
Raptors are about to put Dolan over their knee and give him what he deserves yet again.
Sounds like an obvious conflict of interest and Silver should recuse himself.