MLSE wants Knicks' 'baseless' lawsuit against Raptors to be dismissed

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the Toronto Raptors' ownership group, has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the Canadian franchise received confidential info from former New York Knicks employee Ikechukwu Azotam.

MLSE called the suit "baseless" and "a public relations stunt by the Knicks," according to The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov, Eric Koreen, and Fred Katz.

Raptors bench boss Darko Rajakovic and development coach Noah Lewis are among the defendants alongside MLSE and Azotam.

The Knicks' lawsuit claims Azotam "illegally procured" and provided Toronto personnel with "thousands of proprietary files," including Rajakovic and other members of his staff. Those files allegedly included play frequency reports and a preparation book for the 2022-23 campaign, as well as video scouting files.

"As the Knicks surely expected and presumably intended, the filing of this lawsuit - virtually unprecedented between two members of the NBA or, frankly, two teams in any North American professional sports league - generated significant publicity," MLSE wrote in its motion to dismiss, per Vorkunov, Koreen, and Katz.

"The effect of such a public accusation of wrongdoing in federal court was to tarnish the stellar reputations of Messrs. Rajakovic, Lewis, and Azotam, as well as MLSE, and to chill present and future Knicks employees from their pursuit of employment with other members."

MLSE argues that it was willing to cooperate with the Knicks before the lawsuit was filed and that the video clips Azotam is accused of sharing are accessible to anyone in the Association.

MLSE also believes that the dispute between the Raptors and Knicks should've been handled by NBA commissioner Adam Silver instead of going through the judicial system.

"The fact that the Knicks elected to commence their action in this forum … can only be explained by a concern that pursuit of their claims in the proper forum would receive no public attention and would be denied by the NBA Commissioner," the motion to dismiss said. "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 Knicks stand by their decision to bring their case to court.

"As we have previously stated, given the theft of proprietary and confidential files and clear violation of criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this to federal court, and we are confident the judicial system will agree," an MSG Sports spokesperson said in a statement to Vorkunov, Koreen, and Katz.