Since resigning from his Board of Governors committee positions, proprietor James Dolan and the Knicks launched a lawsuit towards the Raptors seeking greater than $10M in damages over a difficulty that might sometimes be arbitrated by the NBA.
The swimsuit, which alleges {that a} former crew worker illegally took “confidential” information with him to his new place in Toronto, accused commissioner Adam Silver of bias as a consequence of his friendship with Raptors chairman Larry Tanenbaum and Tanenbaum’s place as chairman of the Board of Governors.
As Baxter Holmes writes in an in-depth story for ESPN, Dolan additionally has a prolonged historical past with Raptors president Masai Ujiri. Again in 2011, when Ujiri was Denver’s lead basketball govt, he traded Carmelo Anthony to New York — a deal by which Dolan was later criticized for giving up an excessive amount of on a participant who needed to signal with the Knicks in free company.
Ujiri had one other well-known commerce with the Knicks a few years later whereas he was operating the Raptors, Holmes notes, sending Andrea Bargnani to New York for Marcus Camby, Steve Novak and a number of first-round picks. Bargnani solely performed 71 video games over two seasons with New York.
Dolan reportedly nixed a deal between Toronto and New York that very same yr — 2013 — that might have despatched Kyle Lowry to the Knicks as a result of he “didn’t wish to get fleeced once more by Masai,” a supply instructed The New York Daily News.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported a couple of years in the past that Ujiri was Dolan’s “dream candidate” to run the Knicks, however he wound up returning to the Raptors on a long-term deal in 2021.
So far as the continued lawsuit, authorized consultants, analytics staffers and rival executives alike are skeptical and “typically dismissive” of the Knicks’ claims, based on Holmes.
“For those who had been involved about privateness and the lack of proprietary data, the final place you’ll be pursuing that’s in a courtroom continuing searching for solely financial damages — as a result of whether or not it’s really proprietary goes to be a difficulty,” mentioned Robert Boland, a professor of sports activities legislation at Seton Corridor College Regulation Faculty who additionally maintains a follow targeted on sports activities labor and governance points.
“It’s a must to show your damages on this circumstance and also you’re going to have to inform the courtroom, and by extension the general public, what they took from you and what its worth was. So extra of that turns into public, which probably means the Knicks don’t care about it. I’m assuming by the point we get via the courtroom hearings, all this data might be outdated. I’m unsure the subject material is proprietary or that it’s even well timed anymore.”
Executives specifically cited Dolan’s “litigious popularity,” Holmes provides.
“I believe this can be a full center finger from Dolan to Larry Tanenbaum — and I believe it’s nothing greater than that,” one Japanese Convention govt instructed ESPN.
In response to Holmes, the Raptors are anticipated to file a response to the Knicks’ latest filing on Dec. 11. Boland — one of many authorized consultants Holmes spoke to — is not sure what is going to occur subsequent.
“I don’t see a settlement on this case, however I don’t know if the Knicks are going to win,” mentioned Boland, an admitted Knicks fan. “I don’t actually see a transparent technique. I believe the eye is the specified end result.”
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic can be named within the lawsuit. He once again defended himself amid the allegations and mentioned he’s trying ahead to the case being resolved, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
“Assist from the start was simply high quality as a result of we talked about it, we defined what occurred or what didn’t occur. I do know who I’m, I do know my integrity, I do know who I signify,” Rajakovic mentioned. “I signify one wonderful group and other people within the entrance workplace and the gamers. I’m actually trying ahead for all of this to be solved and for everyone to search out out the reality. I’ve acquired nothing to fret about.”
