Knicks sue ex-employee, share he sent info to Raptors

The NY Knicks on Monday sued the Toronto Raptors, members of the Canadian NBA franchise, and an ex-worker whom they alleged “illegally procured and then disclosed proprietary information” to their competitor.

The NBA franchise from the Big Apple state that Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked for them from 2020 to 2023, sent Toronto thousands of confidential files — including play frequency reports, a prep book for the past campaign, video scouting materials, competitors’ research, and more – after the Canadian team began recruiting him to join their franchise this summer.

New York accused Azotam of violating a confidentiality clause in the working agreement and alleged that members of Toronto told their employees what to do or knowingly benefited from his unlawful actions.

Toronto manager Darko Rajaković, player development manager Noah Lewis and 10 “unknown” workers were also listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

Full Knicks lawsuit vs. Raptors (1/2):

“UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

More on this topic:

NBA planning to start European League, confirms FIBA president

NEW YORK KNICKS, LLC, Plaintiff,

V.

MAPLE LEAF SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LTD. d/b/a TORONTO RAPTORS, DARKO RAJAKOVIĆ, NOAH LEWIS, IKECHUKWU AZOTAM, and JOHN DOES 1-10, Defendants… pic.twitter.com/ZLI5fcG9mY

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) August 22, 2023