NBA to hold July hearing to settle Raptors-Knicks dispute - ESPN

The NBA will hold an arbitration hearing during the week of July 21 for commissioner Adam Silver to settle the long-running legal dispute between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, according to a court filing Saturday in New York that was obtained by ESPN.

That hearing will occur almost two years after the Knicks sued the Raptors in August 2023, alleging the theft of thousands of confidential files. And it will come a little more than a year after the New York judge overseeing the case ruled in June 2024 that Silver should resolve the dispute.

From the start, the Raptors asked Silver to step in, but the Knicks, who sought more than $10 million in damages, expressed concerns about Silver's ability to remain impartial, arguing that he should stay on the sidelines partly because of his close relationship with Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum, who also is chairman of the NBA board of governors.

The Knicks, Raptors and NBA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the initial complaint, the Knicks alleged that the Raptors poached Ikechukwu Azotam, who worked for New York from 2020 to 2023, and ordered him to provide a trove of internal information after Toronto began recruiting him in summer 2023. The Knicks argued that this effort was geared toward giving the Raptors a competitive advantage.

The Knicks alleged that Azotam — who worked for the Knicks as an assistant video coordinator, then as a director of video/analytics/player development assistant — sent the Raptors thousands of confidential files, including play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files and opposition research.

The Knicks also alleged in the August 2023 complaint that Azotam did so at the request of